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ISTANBUL, - Internet censorship in Turkey continued at a steady pace in 2025, with courts and regulatory bodies blocking access to thousands of news stories and social media posts, according to a new report by digital rights monitoring group FreeWebTurkey.
The group’s “2025 Internet Censorship Report” said that in the first seven months of the year, authorities issued orders blocking access to 1,306 pieces of content and restricting access to 3,330 URLs from within Turkey. The report said censorship decisions appeared to disproportionately target journalism and social media activity.
FreeWebTurkey said it reviewed 105 access-blocking rulings issued by 70 different courts, focusing on decisions affecting news websites, civil society groups and journalists. The review drew on publicly available documents and data shared by Turkish outlets and organizations including BirGün, ANKA News Agency, T24 and Medya Koridoru.
Censorship moves in parallel with political developments
Access restrictions increased in step with political developments, as in previous years, the report said, adding that censorship was concentrated on Kurdish media, independent news sites and journalists’ social media accounts.
FreeWebTurkey said the breadth of the blocks — ranging from institutional news sites to individual posts — suggested that internet restrictions were no longer being used as an exceptional measure but had become a lasting tool.
“National security” is the most common legal basis
Among the legal grounds cited, the most frequently used basis was Article 8/A of Turkey’s Law No. 5651, the country’s main internet regulation law, FreeWebTurkey said.
Citing the need to protect “national security and public order,” authorities blocked access to 496 pieces of content, the report said — about 38% of all restrictions documented. FreeWebTurkey said Article 8/A was used as a primary instrument to remove reporting related to public authorities, critical social media posts and political content.
Vague rationales and unexplained orders
The second most common category consisted of rationales that the report said often lacked concrete explanation.
Authorities blocked 443 pieces of content using broad formulations such as “personal rights, trademark rights, and urgent circumstances,” FreeWebTurkey said, accounting for 33.9% of decisions.
In 41 cases (3.1%), the text of the ruling included no rationale at all, the report said, calling this a serious problem for transparency and accountability in access-blocking decisions.
Blocks tied to a provision previously annulled by Turkey’s top court
Another notable category involved decisions issued on the grounds of “privacy of private life,” FreeWebTurkey said, with 29 pieces of content (2.2%) blocked on that basis.
The report said a significant portion of these restrictions cited Article 9 of Law No. 5651 — a provision that Turkey’s Constitutional Court annulled in 2023. That article had regulated access-blocking orders in cases involving alleged violations of personal rights.
Decisions by BTK, RTÜK and SPK also cited
The report said access restrictions were not limited to court rulings and also included decisions by regulatory authorities such as Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) and the Capital Markets Board (SPK).
As examples, FreeWebTurkey said BTK issued an access restriction, via a decision by its Authorization Department, targeting content related to foreign mobile operators. The report also said RTÜK restricted access to some content on grounds such as “unlicensed broadcasting” and “licensing obligations.”
“Censorship has become normalized”
FreeWebTurkey said the findings point to internet censorship becoming a routine and systematic practice in Turkey, arguing that access-blocking measures now go beyond individual items to directly affect journalistic work and the broader space for public debate.