Elon Musk purchased Twitter (and then renamed it X) with the promise that it would be a free speech paradise. It turns out in practice, that means you can say your favorite slurs but can’t protest government overreach. Following the arrest of the primary political rival of Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğan, demonstrators have taken to the streets and to social media to protest the seemingly politically motivated action. According to Politico, some of those who have taken to speaking out against the government have been suspended on X.
Per Politico’s reporting, “university-associated activist accounts” that share protest information including times and locations for students and other activists who might want to participate have been the primary targets of the suspensions. Most of the accounts are described as “grassroots activists” with relatively small followings, typically in the tens of thousands.
In some cases, it seems those accounts have been suspended in Turkey—where their information is most relevant—and not in the rest of the world. One activist, Ömer Faruk Aslan, created a second account to dodge the local censorship, and claimed that his primary account got suspended after one of his posts exceeded six million views on the platform.
Turkey’s ruling government, led by Erdoğan—has claimed that suspended accounts are associated with “inciting hatred.” (It’s worth noting that the public demonstrations against the Erdoğan have taken place the government issuing a multi-day ban on protests.) Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya claimed authorities have identified 326 accounts for takedown, including 72 that are believed to be operated outside of Turkey. He also said that 54 “suspects” have been arrested for their activity on social media.
Turkey’s crackdown on activists is not necessarily on Musk or X (though we don’t know if the company surrendered any user data to the government). But the crackdown on content on platform, the company certainly has a hand in. In fact, it’s been pretty willing to bend to the will of Erdoğan’s government when asked.
Back in 2023, as Turkey was about to have a Presidential election, Erdoğan threatened to throttle X if the company didn’t comply with government requests to take down posts and accounts that it wanted removed. Musk and X acquiesced, with Musk reasoning, “The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?” (The answer to that, if you are a “free speech absolutist,” is likely the former, refuse to give in to a censorship demand and let the chips fall where they may.) Additionally, X has complied with 86% of Turkey’s government requests to take down content in the second half of 2024, per the company’s transparency report.
The math isn’t too hard for Erdoğan. Ask and you will likely receive.
