Kamu Görevlilerinin Sosyal Medya Paylaşımlarının Disiplin Hukuku Bakımından Değerlendirilmesi

Social media platforms have become increasingly used by individuals, institutions and organizations alike. In fact, these platforms have significantly affected the daily routines of individuals and institutions and have an important function in shaping their relationships with stakeholders. This has led to a significant increase in disputes arising from social media platforms. It is an undeniable fact that public officials are individuals and interact with their surroundings, have political views, are interested in national issues and have the right to make choices. In addition, there are certain responsibilities that come with being a public official. In this context, while public officials are exercising their freedoms that come with being individuals, for example, while interacting on social media platforms, they may sometimes be subject to disciplinary investigations as a result of their actions. They may even be subject to disciplinary sanctions as a result of these investigations. At this point, it becomes important whether the disciplinary sanctions applied interfere with the fundamental rights and freedoms of the relevant public officials. The study deals with the disciplinary sanctions that arise due to the social media posts of public officials within the scope of freedom of expression, which is one of the fundamental rights and freedoms regulated in Article 26 of the Constitution. In this context, social media will be mentioned in the first part, the basic principles that dominate disciplinary law will be discussed in the second part and the legal and ethical responsibilities of public officials arising from the use of social media will be tried to be addressed. In the third part, the Supreme Court decisions will be evaluated within the scope of freedom of expression. In the conclusion and evaluation section, general evaluations will be made about the subject.