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Twitter has released data on content removal requests from governments. According to the report, Turkey is the second country with the highest number of requests to remove content on verified journalists and news accounts. Journalists Ahmet Şık, Erk Acarer and Ahmed Dicle, whose tweets were withheld, found this to be not surprising given the current situation of the country.
ALİ SAFA KORKUT
After Google and Facebook, Twitter also released its data on removal requests for 2021. Twitter’s removal request report has also shown the censorship climate in Turkey is increasing each day, similar to the reports of Google and Facebook.
Turkey ranks fourth among the countries with the highest number of legal "content removal" requests by official authorities. According to the data shared by Twitter. 5,454 content removal requests were made on 6,825 accounts in 2021. While 634 of these demands were court decisions, 4,820 of them were other legal demands.
In addition to the high number of requests, Turkey has also ranked in the fourth place among the countries requesting the highest number of content removal. In the report, it was stated that as a result of court decisions and legal demands, 203 tweets and 27 accounts were withheld in the last year.
However, the most striking data in the report was under the subject of "Verified journalists and news outlets" and according to the list, Turkey ranked second after India with the highest number of legal demands to withhold verified accounts approved by Twitter through court decisions and legal requests. Turkish authorities have applied for 108 separate requests to prevent access to verified journalist and news accounts/tweets. This shows that Turkey has made requests twice of Pakistan’s 54 requests, which ranks in the third place.
Erk Acarer: It is understandable for them to want to put journalists under pressure
Even though Twitter did not share the requested information on the journalists and news accounts, a quick internet scan shows that it is the journalists and news accounts which made news on the lawlessness of several government officials and business people.
Erk Acarer is one of the journalists whose tweets were blocked and whose content was requested to be removed in 2021. Access to the attached four tweets of Acarer was blocked by a court order. Speaking on the subject, Acarer said, “I don't think the government knows that once something is on the internet, it is never lost again.”
Stating that despite all the repression, newspaper shutting downs and decisions of the general staff September 12, 1980, people still found ways to communicate and share information on who is a torturer and who is tortured, Acarer said, “Thanks to technology, we can reach people at the farthest point of the world with a single piece of news from where we live today. Therefore, they will try to prevent this through certain platforms. This is a situation befitting fascist governments, but I don't think it will be possible for censorship to achieve its purpose, both in the world and in technology.”
Stating the government is afraid that even the people in the farthest point of the world can be reached through social media and millions of people can be brought together with the news, Acarer said, "Therefore, it is very natural for them to be afraid and it seems very understandable for them to want to put this under pressure in a way that befits fascist governments."
Ahmet Şık: What they are trying to cover up is the posts that reveal their crimes
Journalist and Turkish Workers Party deputy Ahmet Şık is among those whose tweets were blocked by a court order in 2021.
Şık, whose five tweets were blocked only last year, said that censorship is definitely not the right practice, but it is considered to be normal given the current situation of Turkey. Saying that the government doesn’t have the slightest connection with the law and the jurisdiction, Şık expressed his words by saying, “Posts they are trying to cover up are purely about the disclosure of their crimes or posts explaining what the current government is like. They are already preventing the visibility of these posts by holding the control of the media in their hands. With the help of the judiciary, which they have turned into hitmen, they are trying to prevent news from digital environments. It's a move to completely cover it up.”
Şık said "When there is a mafia regime, such things happen” and continued his words: “It is not possible to prevent anything on digital platforms. Every user who has a little knowledge of the IT industry can find and already finds a way to share them, because blocked accounts, tweets, etc. somehow fall in front of us again.”
Indicating that another point to be criticized here is Twitter's compliance with these sanctions, Şık indicated, “I see that access to certain tweets is blocked on Twitter from time to time. However, I can't understand why tweets documenting the corruption of person X are removed or deleted.” Şık said that such platforms as Twitter which present themselves as “platform for freedom of expression” are actually aiming for the interest of the capital and pretending to be the apostle of democracy. Stating that it is absurd to interpret any decision from Turkish courts as a legal text, Şık said that “We complied with the court decision” defense of Twitter against imposing these censorship orders is also unacceptable.
Amed Dicle: Every week, my tweets are blocked by a court order
Amed Dicle is one of the journalists whose tweets are blocked in Turkey the most. Dicle has been subjected to censorship many times before, even his direct user name and access to his account has been blocked from Turkey.
Evaluating these censorship practices against journalists and news sources, Dicle said, “The data did not surprise me. Posts which the government or the people close to them don’t want to be seen are often withheld either through the court orders or by the troll accounts spamming the accounts.”
Stating that he has been blocked dozens of times throughout this time using Twitter since 2010, Dicle said, “In fact, my Twitter account was directly blocked by a court decision from Turkey about five years ago. In other words, none of the tweets I sent were visible in Turkey. Then I closed it and opened the account I am using now, but I continue to be blocked from this account as well. Every week, I receive emails stating that access to some of my tweets has been blocked by a court order” Continuing his words, Dicle said “This shows the despair of the government. Their pollution is so obvious that they cannot prevent it from being deciphered even with the laws they have enacted.”