Protests in Turkey: More and more anti-government accounts blocked on X
Numerous accounts of organizations that organize protests against the government have been blocked on the short message service X in recent days.
(Image: sdx15/Shutterstock.com)
According to an observatory, well over 100 accounts of feminist and student organizations on the short message service X have been blocked in Turkey in recent days. This was compiled by the initiative for monitoring internet censorship Engelliweb. In an overview, it has listed more than 40 accounts of youth organizations whose accounts have been blocked. Another list contains over 140 accounts that have been blocked "to protect national security and public order". Internationally, most of the accounts can still be accessed, but in Turkey it is said that they are being withheld in response to legal requests.
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Over the weekend, cyber rights activist Yaman Akdeniz criticized X itself for arbitrarily blocking the accounts, even though X CEO Elon Musk had assured that X would always stand up for freedom of expression and the right to speak freely. While the billionaire presents himself as an "absolute advocate of free speech", the blocks are a sign that authoritarian demands for censorship are being met. He expects further censorship because such blocking requests are also likely to have been sent to other social networks. Almost two years ago, Musk defended the cooperation with Turkish authorities, otherwise one would risk a complete blocking of one's own page.
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The blocks have now been imposed in light of the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Ä°mamoÄźlu, who is still in custody. Protests against this have been taking place across the country for days. Ä°mamoÄźlu is considered to be the most promising opponent for head of state Recep Tayyip ErdoÄźan. His party speaks of a "civilian coup" with which ErdoÄźan's government wants to eliminate a political opponent. In the course of the arrest of Ä°mamoÄźlu and numerous other people from politics and the Istanbul administration, access to various internet platforms was also severely restricted in Turkey.
(mho)
