The social network X (Twitter), owned by Elon Musk, has suspended the operation of several accounts of opposition figures in Turkey against the background of mass civil unrest in the country. This is reported by Politico, reports UNN.
Details
It is noted that Elon Musk, a self-proclaimed defender of freedom of speech, said that he acquired X to restore freedom of speech on the platform.
The suspension of accounts took place after large-scale demonstrations caused by the arrest earlier this week of the main political rival of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu. Imamoglu was arrested a few hours before he was nominated as a presidential candidate from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)
Opposition protests have spread, despite the government banning gatherings for four days.
A significant part of the opposition activity is focused around universities, and many of those associated with the demonstrations are now finding that their X-profiles are blocked
Most of the blocked accounts are "accounts of activists associated with universities who mostly shared information about protests, places where students can go," Yusuf Kan, coordinator and analyst of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, said. Many of these accounts are "grassroots activists" with tens of thousands of followers, Kan said.
Some accounts appear to be blocked only in Turkey, but not in other countries of the world. Activist Omer Faruk Aslan created a second account to avoid censorship. "Yesterday my account was blocked by a court decision, because the number of views of posts exceeded 6 million," he wrote.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in X that the authorities found 326 social media accounts inciting hatred, 72 of which were located abroad. Coordinated actions of cyber services and security agencies led to the arrest of 54 suspects associated with these social media accounts, Erlikaya said.
Reminder
Turkey held the largest street protests in the last ten years, after the arrest of the opposition mayor of Istanbul. The minister announced the arrest of more than 340 protesters.
