İFÖD report: At least 1,270 X accounts were blocked in Turkey in September

According to the analysis carried out by the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) within the scope of the EngelWeb project, at least 1,270 X accounts were blocked in Turkey in September alone.

The association stated that approximately 90 percent of the accounts were made invisible by X from Turkey. The number exceeded the 995 X accounts whose access was blocked in all of 2025 within the scope of Article 8/A of the Internet Law No. 5651. 941 of the blocks in September occurred in the second half of the month.

On the other hand, it was learned that the total number of followers of 1,227 accounts whose follower information could be accessed among those whose access was blocked exceeded 3 million. 362 of them had more than 10 thousand followers, 70 had more than 100 thousand followers, and 10 had more than 500 thousand followers.

BLOCK ENGELLİWEB TOO

The X account of EngelWeb, which has been documenting access barriers since 2008, was also blocked on October 1. The account was made invisible by X from Turkey after the decision.

In the notification sent on October 1 at 17.14, However, the details of the decision were not conveyed to IFÖD.

The association stated that they had previously taken many access blocking decisions targeting the posts of EngelWeb and said, "This time, our account that records the censorship has been targeted."

NEWSPAPERS, JOURNALISTS, RIGHT ORGANIZATIONS, ACADEMICS...

In September, the blocks included journalists and news organizations, as well as LGBTI+ organizations, women's organizations, human rights defenders, academics, economists, and accounts from different political and religious circles.

Accounts belonging to LGBTI+ organizations, rights defenders and activists were blocked within the scope of the operations called "My Family is Safe", while accounts belonging to many content producers were blocked on the grounds of "obscenity".

Access barriers also extended to accounts sharing about the funding crisis and the Narin Güran murder investigation.

In addition, the accounts were blocked on the grounds of Israeli propaganda, "FETO affiliation", Tevhid circle, Furkan Movement and Alihan Kuriş investigations.

Among the accounts made invisible from Turkey are journalists Erk Acarer, Naz Yavuzarslan, Canan Kaya, Meral Danyıldız, Özlem Akarsu Çelik, Fırat Fıstık and İrem Afşin, and İFÖD co-founder Yaman Akdeniz.

The accounts of Kısa Dalga, soL Haber, Mezopotamya Agency, JinNews, Velvele and Kaos GL Haber are also blocked.

Prof in the field of economics. Dr. While the accounts of Veysel Ulusoy, İnan Mutlu and Emre Şirin were made invisible; Kaos GL Association, Amnesty International Turkey, Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), Academics for Peace, We Will Stop Femicide Platform, Federation of Women's Associations of Turkey, Women's Coalition, Turkish Psychiatric Association, Ali İsmail Korkmaz Foundation (ALİKEV), TİP LGBTI+ Bureau and Umut-Sen were also on the list.

NO DECISION: A MASS CENSORSHIP SCHEME

İFÖD stated that access blocking decisions were not made public and were not notified to account holders.

The association stated that, based on nine decisions and one request letter from September, only 115 out of 1,270 accounts could be determined on which decision they were blocked. Accordingly, the decision that formed the basis for blocking access to 1,155 accounts is unknown.

In its statement, İFÖD drew attention to the decision of the Constitutional Court (AYM) on Artı Media GmbH dated 2023.

In the said decision, the Constitutional Court General Assembly concluded that Article 8/A of Law No. 5651 did not contain basic guarantees to prevent arbitrary practices of public authorities and ruled that the freedoms of expression and the press were violated. The court also found that the violation resulted directly from the law.