“In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today,” Twitter Global Government Affairs said on the platform without clarifying the nature of the content being blocked.
Content restricted in Turkey will remain available for the rest of the world, according to Twitter.
The majority of Turkey’s mainstream media is aligned with the current administration and the government has faced harsh criticism for censoring content critical of Erdogan who has threatened to shut down Twitter in the past.
The US-based Human Rights Watch on Friday urged social media platforms and the internet to remain accessible to people in Turkey so they can have access to updates about the elections.
“Given the sorry state of Turkey’s mainstream media, the integrity of Turkey’s election depends upon it,” the rights group said, criticizing state media for being heavily biased towards Erdogan.
On Turkey’s election night it’s imperative that social media platforms & the wider internet remain accessible so the public can follow independent election monitors & reporting around the vote count. The integrity of Turkey’s election depends upon it @hrw https://t.co/nIvMn0LasI
— Emma Sinclair-Webb (@esinclairwebb) May 13, 2023
Turkey will go to the polls on Sunday in what will be Erdogan’s biggest political challenge in two decades as Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate for the opposition and leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), aims to unseat him in a historic vote.
Opinion surveys and polls suggest that Kilicdaroglu could break the 50 percent threshold in the first round to cement his victory and give him the presidency without going to a second round runoff on May 28.
Kilicdaroglu’s bid for the presidency was given a potential boost by the withdrawal on Thursday of Muharrem Ince, who CHP supporters feared could attract enough votes away from Kilicdaroglu to propel Erdogan to victory. Ince withdrew after an alleged sex tape of him circulated on social media.
The slump in Erdogan’s popularity comes as the country scrambles to curb the effects of an economic crisis, soaring costs of living and inflation, and the aftermath of February’s devastating earthquake that killed around 50,000 people.
As the earthquake shook the country and razed cities to the ground, Turkish police took action against social media accounts and journalists for “provocative” posts and for criticizing the government’s inadequate search and rescue efforts.
Kilicdaroglu at the time slammed the government over the arrests. “Either arrest us all, or free the young people and journalists you have arrested overnight. We have got a lot to do,” he tweeted.
