In June 2025, a significant milestone was reached in Türkiye in the name of digital inclusion. The "Regulation on the Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications," published in the Official Gazette on June 21, 2025, aims to make the digital world more accessible for everyone.

So, What Does This Regulation Promise?

At Corpowid, we’ve been eagerly anticipating this legal regulation for quite some time, and we are pleased to see it finally in place. As one of Türkiye’s most ambitious startups operating in the accessibility space across 13 countries, we’d like to share our perspectives and experiences around this important development.

What Does It Mean for Businesses?

Here’s the promise: Serious and responsible companies operating in digital spaces will now need to make their websites and mobile applications accessible. Of course, the timeframes outlined in the regulation may appear sufficient, but in practice, they are tight for operational execution.

For example, imagine a website with 1 million images and 100,000 pages. If we consider every day of the year as a working day, it means that approximately 2,739 images must be written with descriptive alt text every single day to meet accessibility standards.

And the problem isn’t just about alt text. The full scope includes:

• Use of ARIA labels

• Proper color contrast settings

• Keyboard (tab) navigation compliance

• Semantic page structure

• Accessible forms, buttons, and video captions

What we foresee here is that companies using AI-supported accessibility tools — or those providing automated, scalable accessibility solutions — will become increasingly in demand.

Why Is Accessibility Important?

People with disabilities face many challenges in daily life. These challenges don’t only affect individuals themselves but also their families, friends, and wider social circles. As a society, we must offer support not just in physical spaces, but also in digital environments.

In fact, many people with disabilities feel freer in digital spaces compared to physical ones. Whether it’s online shopping, social media engagement, or accessing public services, digital platforms often make these actions just a click away. But there’s a problem: digital inaccessibility.

Global Standards: WCAG and Inclusive Design

When it comes to digital accessibility, the global standard is the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), developed by the W3C. Complying with these standards doesn’t only benefit people with disabilities — it also helps:

• Elderly users

• People with visual impairments

• Individuals with dyslexia, epilepsy, or temporary injuries

• Users facing language barriers

For instance, features like automatic translation, text-to-speech, or simplified user interfaces can be critical for these groups.

According to some studies, the number of people who benefit from accessibility features may exceed the number of officially recognized disabled individuals. In other words, accessibility isn’t just a minority issue — it’s a necessity for a vast portion of the population.

The Economic Perspective: Accessibility = Growth

Let’s not forget that accessibility is not just a social responsibility — it’s a smart economic move:

• Every year, companies lose approximately $6.9 billion in potential revenue due to inaccessible websites (source: Click-Away Pound Survey).

• People with disabilities and their families spend over $1 trillion globally per year (source: The Return on Disability Group).

These numbers show that digital accessibility is a real business driver. Plus, accessibility features offer serious advantages for SEO.

SEO Benefits: Higher Rankings on Google

Google’s algorithm now prioritizes user experience. Accessible websites, thanks to lower bounce rates, longer session durations, and better structural data, receive 15–20% more organic traffic.

By improving your accessibility, you’re not only making your website more inclusive — you’re also improving your search engine performance.

So Why Isn’t It Being Adopted?

Despite its clear advantages, more than 96% of websites worldwide are still not accessible (source: WebAIM Million Report 2024).

The top reasons include:

• Lack of awareness

• Accessibility not being prioritized by development teams

• Time and resource limitations

But here’s the good news: digital accessibility is not as difficult as many think. Today, multiple solutions exist to meet these needs.

For example, Corpowid’s AI-powered platform:

• Scans websites

• Detects accessibility issues

• Automatically writes and injects alternative text (alt text), meta titles, schemas, etc.

• Does this without needing access to the CMS or backend

Want to check your website’s accessibility level? Start with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.

Which Companies Will Lead?

After this regulation, we expect many institutions to begin working on digital accessibility. But another issue arises: the quality of service providers.

Today, a growing number of companies offer so-called "widgets" or "overlay" accessibility solutions. But do these actually work?

Unfortunately, not all of them deliver true accessibility. In fact, some widgets can reduce website performance or even conflict with screen readers — worsening the user experience.

The good news is: You can test this. Use tools like:

• Google Lighthouse

• Google PageSpeed Insights

• Axe, WAVE, and other real accessibility testing tools

If these tools continue to report major issues after using a solution, chances are it’s not doing the job.

How to Evaluate an Accessibility Provider

If you're not highly technical, here are some key things to consider when choosing an accessibility service:

• The company’s experience and expertise in accessibility

• Certifications and WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 compliance

• Live reference projects and satisfied clients

• Manual audit reports after implementation

• Improved scores in accessibility testing tools

And most importantly: Does the provider offer a final accessibility audit report after the widget or system is installed?

No matter how sophisticated a tool may be, if your website’s structure has underlying accessibility issues, you must validate whether those issues were resolved — ideally with an independent or automated test.

Why AI Makes Accessibility Easier Than Ever

At Corpowid, our AI-powered solution scans websites, identifies SEO and accessibility issues, and fixes them automatically — without needing CMS or server access.

For example:

• Writing alt text for 10,000 product images on an e-commerce site could take weeks.

• Our system scans, analyzes, and generates SEO-optimized alt text within minutes.

• And it works in over 50 languages, including Turkish, English, and German.

This creates value not only for accessibility but also for SEO and user experience.

According to Google, accessible websites gain 15–20% more organic traffic.

We Should Welcome This Regulation

So, back to the original question: What does this regulation offer us?

The answer is clear:

• It strengthens social inclusion

• Mandates equal access to all public digital systems

• Rewards investing companies with brand value and competitive edge

• Accelerates the digital transformation process

• And most importantly: Accessibility is now not just ethical — it’s a legal obligation

In this regard, Türkiye’s move to implement such a regulation highlights its commitment to human-centered digital transformation.

View the full regulation here: Resmî Gazete – June 21, 2025 / Issue No: 32933 Explore Corpowid’s AI accessibility solutions: www.corpowid.com See our AI-powered SEO & Accessibility product demo: Product Presentation PDF