Health and Aesthetic Clinic Social Media Rules in Turkey

In health and aesthetics, social media is not the same job it is in other sectors. Elsewhere, the worst a post can lead to is indifference; here it can lead to an administrative sanction, an access ban or a report to a professional body.

Even so, in Turkish-language sources the subject is mostly treated as legal analysis or as news copy; there are few practical guides written for the person who actually runs the clinic's account.

The text this article is based on is the Regulation on Promotion and Information Activities in Health Services (Sağlık Hizmetlerinde Tanıtım ve Bilgilendirme Faaliyetleri Hakkında Yönetmelik), published in the Official Gazette (Resmî Gazete) of 12 November 2025, No. 33075. This Regulation repealed the earlier regulation of the same name, published in the Official Gazette of 29 July 2023, No. 32263 (Art. 13), and entered into force on the date of its publication (Art. 14). Every article reference below is taken from the text as published in the Official Gazette.

Two warnings. This text is not legal advice; it is written from a content operations perspective, and the authority to give binding interpretations lies with the Ministry of Health (Sağlık Bakanlığı) and the provincial health directorates. In addition, the published text could be verified, but any amendments that may have been made since then could not be confirmed; the current form of the articles below should be checked again against the Official Gazette and Ministry sources.

Scope first: who these rules bind

The Regulation's scope article is clear: promotion and information activities carried out by healthcare professionals, private healthcare institutions and international health tourism intermediary organisations (Art. 2). The definition of healthcare professional covers physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, midwives and opticians, along with the other professionals defined in additional Article 13 of Law No. 1219 (Art. 4).

The practical question here is this: does a beauty centre fall within this scope? The answer depends on the type of licence the business holds and cannot be given from the outside. A centre licensed as a healthcare institution that employs healthcare professionals and a beauty business that provides no healthcare services are not assessed within the same framework. Rather than getting past this distinction on a guess, having it confirmed by the provincial health directorate on the basis of your own licence is the first thing to do before you build a content workflow.

Nor is there a gap for those who fall outside the scope: the Regulation's sanctions article provides that, in certain cases, a notification will be made to the Ministry of Trade and the Advertising Board (Reklam Kurulu) for assessment under Law No. 6502 on Consumer Protection (Art. 12). So being outside the scope does not mean misleading promotion is permitted; what changes is which authority looks at it.

Where the line between information and promotion lies

The Regulation defines advertising and promotion separately. Advertising is described as activity "that exceeds the limits of promotion and information" (Art. 4); the first sentence of Art. 5 is unambiguous: covert or overt advertising is prohibited, while promotion and information may be carried out provided that certain principles are observed.

The boundaries of the permitted area are listed as well. For healthcare facilities, promotion and information consist of address and contact details, working days and hours, the specialties in which patients are accepted, the professional and academic titles of the healthcare professionals employed, and information of a health-protecting and health-promoting nature related to the field of service (Art. 4). In other words, directory details and health-protecting information sit at the centre of the permitted area.

On the other hand, several sub-paragraphs of Art. 5 close off steering: promotion and information cannot contain content that directs the patient, directly or indirectly, to a professional or an institution (Art. 5/1-f), and patients cannot be steered through broadcast channels on grounds such as consultancy and information (Art. 5/1-g). The rule the content team takes from this is clear: a post has to be built to inform; calls such as "book an appointment now", "come to us" or "let us do it for you too" fall outside this framework.

Before-and-after images: why they are the riskiest content type

The use of visual content is regulated in a separate article of the Regulation (Art. 7), and before-and-after images are the area that article regulates most densely. The conditions that follow from the text are these:

For images belonging to a patient to be used, the explicit consent of the patient — or of the parent or guardian if the patient is a minor or under legal disability — must be obtained and the Patient Rights Regulation must be complied with; explicit consent can be obtained in writing or electronically using the Visual Content Recording and Processing Consent Form in Annex 1 (Art. 7/1-b).
The patient has the right to see in advance the image that will be shared; permission can be withdrawn at any time, and such a request must be acted on immediately (Art. 7/1-c).
Patients who do not give permission must be assured that there will be no change in diagnosis and treatment procedures or in the fees charged (Art. 7/1-ç); no payment, discount or gift can be given in return for permission (Art. 7/1-d).
Images must be taken without misleading make-up, and no technological alteration or retouching can be applied afterwards (Art. 7/1-e).
Before and after images must be captured under the same environment and technical conditions, and the date of the procedure and the dates of imaging must be stated (Art. 7/1-f).
It must be stated whether the image belongs to the relevant professional and to a real patient, and, if it is quoted from elsewhere, its source must be given (Art. 7/1-g).
Images of a patient during a medical intervention, procedure or operation cannot be shared (Art. 7/1-h).
Visual content cannot be published as sponsored content or by paying for it to be published (Art. 7/1-j).
In images used in domestic promotion, the following warning must appear in an easily readable form: "Her cerrahi veya girişimsel işlemde sonuçlar kişiden kişiye değişiklik gösterebilir. İşlem öncesinde hekiminizden detaylı görüş almanız önerilir." (in English: "Results of any surgical or interventional procedure may vary from person to person. You are advised to obtain a detailed opinion from your physician before the procedure.") (Art. 7/1-k).

The operational conclusion is this: this content type should be handled not with the question "is it banned or allowed" but with a list of conditions that has to be met. A single missing item — the dates not being written, or the lighting being different — is enough to make the content non-compliant.

The limit on sharing patient reviews and thank-you messages

This is the heading that surprises teams most, because sharing a thank-you message looks like a harmless habit. The Regulation draws the same line in two separate places. Under Art. 5/1-e, in media such as the press, social media platforms and websites, posts of an advertising nature cannot be made on the basis of expressions of thanks or satisfaction from patients or their relatives. Art. 7/1-ğ repeats the same limit for visual posts and, with the words "even if made in other media", also covers passing such content on through a screenshot.

The second sentence of the same sub-paragraph usually goes unnoticed, and it concerns a platform setting directly: posts of visual content must be closed to user interactions such as comments, likes and reshares. This is a technical step that has to be taken when the post goes live; if it is forgotten, the post becomes non-compliant even when the content itself is acceptable.

Art. 5/2 widens responsibility: those who carry out promotion contrary to these principles and those who share it are equally responsible. This sentence is decisive for clinics that have handed the work to an agency or an employee. Art. 7/1-i makes it explicit: posts with visual content must be made by the healthcare facility or the relevant professional themselves, and the fact that someone else made them does not remove responsibility.

Price, campaign and discount language

Art. 5/1-m is a single sentence and leaves no room for debate: promotion and information activities cannot include information on fees, discounts, campaigns or promotions. Art. 5/1-l provides that healthcare services cannot be made the subject of marketing activities such as incentives, prize draws and gifts.

The content types these two sub-paragraphs close off are broad: seasonal campaigns, "this month only" announcements, package price graphics, follower giveaways, bring-a-friend schemes and gift campaigns.

On the sponsored content side the limit is narrow as well. Art. 5/1-i says that healthcare facilities and professionals may register on social media platforms or search engines provided that it is not a paid sponsorship and is not aimed at being featured; the keywords used and the information on the results page cannot conflict with the Regulation's principles either. Art. 5/1-j allows a narrow exception: sponsored promotion that complies with the Regulation may be carried out for the first month following the opening date.

Art. 5/1-k closes off unsolicited contact: personal phones cannot be called without consent, and promotion cannot be carried out by sending messages via letter, text message, email or social sharing tools.

International health tourism is placed under a separate regime in Art. 8, which grants certain freedoms. That regime, however, applies only to facilities and intermediary organisations covered by an authorisation certificate issued by the Ministry.

The difference between a physician's personal account and the institution's account

A common assumption in practice goes like this: what cannot be done on the institution's account can be done on the physician's personal account. The Regulation's scope article does not support that assumption; the scope names healthcare professionals directly (Art. 2), and the promotion limits for professionals are defined separately in Art. 4.

There is a separate limit on titles: Art. 5/1-d provides that specialist titles based on certificates and similar training documents cannot be used, other than the main and sub-specialties set by Law No. 1219. The same sub-paragraph also lists what may be shared: training received, provided it is within the specialty on the registered diploma, registered certificates, scientific publications, meetings organised, academic awards, administrative and advisory roles, and association memberships.

Art. 5/1-b says that information may be provided only by healthcare professionals authorised in the subject. In other words, the source and the approval of medical content have to lie with an authorised professional.

If platform rules and the regulation conflict, which one binds

The two are not alternatives to each other; they are two layers stacked on top of each other, and the narrower one binds. Platform rules can remove content, restrict an account or refuse ad approval; those are commercial consequences. The consequences of breaching the regulation sit on a different plane: the Regulation provides that in case of breach the sanctions in the administrative sanctions form in Annex 2 will be applied, that in certain cases a notification will be made to the Advertising Board and to the chief public prosecutor's office, and that, for content that adversely affects the diagnosis and treatment process, an application will be made to the competent authority for blocking of access under Law No. 5651 (Art. 12).

The practical conclusion: a platform allowing a piece of content does not mean that content complies with the regulation. An ad dashboard approving an image does not make that image publishable.

Pre-publication approval workflow: who checks, and how quickly

In an area that carries this many conditions, the only sustainable method is to tie approval to a workflow.

Three roles are kept separate. The producer (who prepares the copy and the image), the medical approver (an authorised professional) and the publisher. In setups where all three are the same person, errors are inevitable.

Approval is given in writing. Verbal approval cannot later show which version was approved; the text and image the approval was given for should be recorded together with the date.

The timeframe is set in advance. How many days are allowed for approval is agreed when the calendar is built. If the timeframe is not written down, the calendar gets stuck waiting for approval and content starts going out without it.

An archive is kept. For every published piece, the copy, the image, the consent record and the approval date should be stored. What you show in an inspection is not the content itself but how it was produced.

The same discipline is needed on the messages and comments side: the limits that saved replies have to stay within should be written down. We looked at how a messaging flow is set up with automation, and where an automated reply has to stop, through a single sector in our article on social media automation for beauty salons.

What to publish instead of risky content

Once the restrictions are listed, the first reaction is "then there is nothing left to share". There is. The formats below fit within the framework of "information of a health-protecting and health-promoting nature" defined in Art. 4, together with directory details.

Informational content describing the symptoms of a condition.
A process walkthrough explaining how a procedure is carried out, without patient images.
One-paragraph answers to frequently asked questions.
Content on preventive care and daily habits.
Preparation information on what to pay attention to before and after an appointment.
The titles and training of the team (within the limits of Art. 5/1-d).
The clinic's physical environment and equipment — without turning into product or brand promotion (Art. 5/1-h).
Working hours, address and directions.
Announcements of scientific publications, meetings and academic activities.
Corrections of common misinformation.

What they have in common: none of them tries to steer the patient, and all of them inform. This also overlaps with the type of content AI assistants cite — we covered how clinic information is made readable on the machine side in our article on GEO for dental clinics.

Compliance checklist and review calendar

The list to go through before every publication has to be short, otherwise nobody goes through it.

Does this content inform, or does it steer?
Does it mention fees, discounts, campaigns, promotions, prize draws or gifts?
If there is a patient image: was consent obtained, did the patient see it in advance, are the dates written, were the same environment and technical conditions ensured, was the mandatory warning added?
In a post with visual content, were comments, likes and reshares turned off?
Has a patient's thank-you or expression of satisfaction — including one passed on as a screenshot — been used?
Are statements of title limited to the registered specialty?
Will the content be published as sponsored or boosted?
Was medical approval obtained in writing, who gave it, and on what date?

On the calendar side, two records are kept. Every three months, a sample audit of published content is carried out. When a change in the regulation comes to your attention, however, you do not wait for the audit; this area moves — a Regulation published in 2023 was repealed in its entirety in 2025. That is why the date and number of the text the checklist is based on should be written at the top of the list; if the list is never updated again, at least it will be clear which date it belongs to.

We describe the scope of our work in this area on our dental and aesthetic clinics and beauty centres pages, and how content is produced within these limits in our social media management service. If you would like to set up your own approval routine, write to us.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we share a review the patient posted themselves?

The Regulation appears to have closed off this point specifically. Art. 7/1-ğ opens with the words "even if made in other media" and provides that visual posts of an advertising nature cannot be made, in media including social media, on the basis of expressions of thanks or satisfaction from patients or their relatives; Art. 5/1-e repeats the same limit. So the fact that the content first came from the patient does not make passing it on permissible. If you need an assessment specific to your own situation, the right step is to ask the provincial health directorate.

Can before-and-after images not be used at all?

Rather than banning this content type outright, the Regulation has made it conditional: explicit consent and the consent form in Annex 1, the patient's right to see the image in advance and to withdraw permission at any time, no payment or discount in return for permission, the ban on misleading make-up and later retouching, the same environment and technical conditions, stating the dates, the mandatory warning text and closing the post to user interactions. When any one of these conditions is not met, the post becomes non-compliant; in practice this makes it a content type with a high preparation cost.

Is advertising on social media subject to a separate set of rules?

Not a separate set, but a narrower part of the same set. Art. 5/1-i ties registration on social media and search engines to the condition that it is not a paid sponsorship and is not aimed at being featured; Art. 7/1-j says visual content cannot be published as sponsored content or by paying for it to be published. Art. 5/1-j allows a narrow exception for the first month following the opening date; the different regime under Art. 8 applies only to those holding an authorisation certificate.

Is content aimed at patients abroad assessed differently?

The Regulation deals with this under a separate heading in Art. 8 and lists the conditions: running the activity through a separate social media account or website aimed at other countries, clearly stating that services are provided within the scope of health tourism, sponsored activity in languages other than Turkish, selecting an audience located abroad, and switching off automatic audience definitions. Activity aimed at generating demand among people living in Turkey, on the other hand, is prohibited. The precondition for this regime is an authorisation certificate issued by the Ministry.

If the regulation changes, do old posts have to be deleted?

Because it depends on the nature of the change, no single rule can be given; but never reviewing the archive at all is not a defensible choice. The practical approach is to scan the archive when the regulation changes, remove content that clearly conflicts with the new framework, and put the rest through a documented audit list. The removal decision should be recorded as well: which content was removed, on what grounds and on what date. What can be shown in an inspection is often not the content itself but the routine the business runs.