The access-blocking measures, which began ahead of the Pride March in June, also extended to protests against the NATO summit held on 7–8 July. As part of these measures, which targeted the media and civil society, access to at least 659 pieces of digital content were blocked

ALİ SAFA KORKUT

Ahead of the Istanbul Pride March held on 28 June, access to the social media accounts and posts of numerous civil society organizations, news platforms, newspapers, journalists and ordinary citizens was blocked. As part of this access restriction campaign, which began on 18 June, the mobile apps and social media accounts of LGBTI+ dating platforms were also blocked.

But it did not stop there.

Those protesting the NATO summit held in Ankara on 7–8 July, as well as those reporting on the protests, were also subjected to the access block. Indeed, a large number of social media accounts, social media posts, domain names and news items belonging to civil society organizations, political parties, politicians, youth organizations, student movements, news platforms, newspapers, journalists and ordinary citizens were blocked prior to the summit.

Whilst the blocking measures specifically targeting the Pride March and the NATO summit came to an end on 11 July, access to at least 659 pieces of digital content was blocked over a period of approximately one month. Of this content, 339 were related to the Pride March, whilst 320 were related to the NATO summit.

Of the 339 pieces of content blocked specifically in connection with the Pride March, blocking orders for 252 were issued by the Istanbul 6th Criminal Judgeship of Peace. The decision, issued on 18 June at the request of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, was justified on the grounds of “the protection of national security and public order.”

The remaining 48 pieces of blocked content comprised the profiles of 12 different LGBTI+ dating apps on the App Store and Google Play, as well as accounts on X and Instagram. The decision regarding these contents was issued on 24 June by the Istanbul 5th Criminal Court of Peace. The grounds cited were again “the protection of national security and public order.”

The other 39 digital items subject to access restrictions also comprised X and Instagram accounts. It has not yet been established who issued the blocking order for these accounts, nor when it was issued.

The blocking orders for the 320 digital items rendered inaccessible in connection with the NATO Summit were issued by at least six different authorities.

The distribution of the authorities that issued the blocking orders for 172 of these digital content items, comprising domain names, social media accounts, social media posts and news articles, is as follows:

It has not been possible to determine who issued the blocking orders for the remaining 148 digital content items.

The breakdown of the 659 digital content items subject to access restrictions over a period of approximately one month, by type, is as follows:

50 accounts and domain names belonging to 41 different publishers were blocked

In addition to organizations organizing or supporting protests and events, journalists and news organizations – the majority of whom were reporting on developments – were also targeted by these access restrictions.

Indeed, 50 of the 659 blocked digital content items consisted of social media accounts and websites belonging to news platforms, newspapers, journalists and magazines.

The X account of the Susma Platform, part of P24, with the username “@susma_24,” was also blocked on 27 July as part of these measures.

Furthermore, publishers such as Komün magazine, Köz newspaper, Velvele and Yolculuk Haber, as well as journalists such as Ali Ergin Demirhan and Nisan Çıra, have been subjected to access restrictions on multiple occasions. Not only were their main accounts blocked, but the new accounts they created following the blocking of their original accounts were also restricted.

One of the publishers targeted by the access restrictions was Sendika Org.

A decision to block access to the platform’s X account with the username “@sendika_org” was issued on 2 July, but this decision has not yet been implemented.

“Journalists are being prevented from reaching their readers”

However, journalist Ali Ergin Demirhan, a member of the Sendika.Org Editorial Board, was not so fortunate. Access to Demirhan’s X account under the username “@ali_ergind,” created on 29 June, and to the account “@Aliergindemrhan,” which he opened on 7 July to replace it, have been blocked.

Assessing the access blocks that have been in place for approximately a month, Demirhan stated that these were unlawful and “pre-emptive” measures aimed at collectively silencing social opposition.

Noting that the aim here was to suppress social dissent and activism, Demirhan said, “The blocking of my account is one of the restrictions directly targeting an individual. What is interesting is that when we enquired about the decision to block access, not only did X fail to respond, but the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) also stated in an official letter sent to our lawyers that they had not issued such a decision or carried out such a procedure. “We are at the height of arbitrariness here,” he said.

Demirhan added, “The successive access-blocking decisions constitute a systematic practice aimed at preventing journalists from reaching their readers by opening alternative accounts.”

Reporter Nisan Çıra is one of the journalists who has had two separate X accounts blocked during this period.

Çıra, who was covering the protests against the NATO summit on site and sharing updates via her X account, had her “@Nisancira” account blocked on 27 June, followed by her “@ciranisan” account—which she had opened as a replacement—on 7 July.

Noting that a large number of media outlets and journalists’ accounts were also blocked following the Pride March, Çıra said, “X has been blocking accounts by enforcing court rulings for quite some time, but during this period, not only has the scope of these blocks widened, but Meta has also begun to implement similar decisions more frequently.”

Çıra added, “With X implementing court rulings without question, these restrictions on journalists have increased even further, particularly during periods of social unrest.”

“A censorship practice aimed at preventing the reporting of protests”

The X account of Aslı Alpar, a journalist and founder of Muzır Neşriyat, with the username “@aslialpar,” was also blocked on 18 June, ahead of the Pride March.

Alpar interpreted this decision, which she viewed as “pre-emptive censorship,” as “an attempt to hinder the capacity of journalists and LGBTI+ media outlets to report news, disseminate information and ensure public visibility.”

The basis for the blocking of Alpar’s account by the Istanbul 6th Criminal Court of Peace was a post she made on 8 March 2013, in which she stated: “Furthermore, this law has ignored #LGBT individuals and was drafted solely on behalf of women who have suffered violence.”

Following a request from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, this post from 13 years ago was also blocked.

Commenting on this situation, Alpar stated: “There is no concrete and individualized assessment of the content’s illegality. On the contrary, content I might share in the future is being suppressed in advance,” and added:

“It is clear that these restrictions limit both the public’s right to information and journalists’ freedom of the press and expression. The scope of the intervention, the accounts targeted and the timing of the action indicate that this is a systematic practice of censorship aimed not merely at removing individual pieces of content, but at preventing the reporting of protests and reducing their public visibility.”