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Turkish authorities have detained a social media influencer on an obscenity charge after she announced on Instagram that she would go to dinner with one person on Valentine’s Day for a fee of 400,000 Turkish lira (about $11,000), Turkish media reported.
Merve Taşkın, a well-known internet personality, was taken into custody after her post sparked a backlash and led to complaints filed through the Presidential Communications Center (CİMER), a government platform for public grievances. The influencer did not specify gender requirements for the dinner but was accused of violating public morality laws.
“I don’t think having dinner is a crime,” Taşkın wrote on social media after news of her detention emerged. “If they want, we can have dinner with the police as well.”
Obscenity charges in Turkey are frequently used to target social media users, artists and writers under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes the distribution and promotion of content deemed morally inappropriate. In recent years authorities have prosecuted individuals for sharing memes, streaming explicit content or publishing books that touch on sexuality and gender.
Taşkın has previously faced legal action over social media content, including an investigation in 2021 for posting photos from an adult store during a trip to Amsterdam.