Elon Musk denounced after X acquiesces to Turkey's censorship requests
According to Turkish freedom of expression organisation IFOD, an access ban on 126 accounts requested by the government was approved by a single decision of a criminal court in Ankara on 5 February on the grounds of "protecting national security and public order".
Those blocked are largely individuals and outlets associated with the Gulenist movement - blamed by Turkey for the 2016 coup attempt - or with pro-Kurdish, left-wing and liberal leanings.
Some of the most high profile outlets blocked in the country include the left-leaning Arti Gercek and Yeni Yasam, the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) and the women-focused Kurdish outlet Jin News.
Among the journalists blocked are the Berlin-based Hayko Bagdat - who has more than one million followers on X - and Metin Cihan, an independent journalist who has focused on Turkey's trade relations with Israel during the Gaza war.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Bagdat, an Armenian-Turkish journalist who has lived in Germany since 2016 due to threats and harassment in Turkey, told Middle East Eye that authoritarianism was becoming commonplace around the world and Musk was helping enable it.
He added that platforms like X had allowed Turkish dissidents to maintain a presence in the country from exile, which "greatly unsettles" the government.
'In a world where a figure like Elon Musk is influential, we need to repeatedly discuss the concept of freedom of expression'
- Hayko Bagdat, journalist
"Despite having 1.2 million followers and a verified account on the X platform, where I have been active for 20 years, my account was shut down by a local court decision," he said.
"In a world where a figure like Elon Musk is influential, we need to repeatedly discuss the concept of freedom of expression."
Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist", has overseen a huge increase in approvals for removal requests submitted by governments since taking over the company former known as Twitter in 2022.
According to a transparency report X published last year and a Washington Post review of past disclosure data, the social media site acted on 71 percent of legal requests it received to remove content in the first half of 2024, up 20 percent from its previous reported figure in 2021.
The report said X had taken action in 68 percent of the cases requested by Turkey, which amounted to 9,364 requests in the first half of 2024.
"Under previous management, Twitter would challenge censorship decisions and resist government orders, particularly regarding accounts belonging to journalists and media outlets. However, recent developments indicate that Elon Musk's X platform has effectively become the long arm of the law enforcement agencies in Turkey," IFOD founder Yaman Akdeniz told MEE.
"As X swiftly complies with government takedown requests and withholds accounts in Turkey, this pattern will likely continue, further eroding free expression in the country."
Journalist crackdown
For many years, Turkey has regularly been described as the world's worst jailer of journalists by media freedom organisations.
On 6 January, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), a Turkish rights group monitoring press freedom, said there were at least 30 journalists and media workers in prison and four under house arrest in the country.
It said it monitored 281 freedom of expression trials in 2024 involving 1,856 defendants, 366 of whom were journalists.
UK revoked Turkish academic's visa over Hamas document found on phone Read More »
The crackdown on critical journalists escalated after the 2016 coup attempt.
Last month, prosecutors opened an investigation against the Istanbul bar association on charges of "spreading terrorist propaganda", accusing it of links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group who have fought a guerilla war with Turkey since 1984.
The probe was opened after lawyers called for an investigation into the death of two Kurdish journalists - Cihan Bilgin and Nazim Dastan - in Syria in late December in a suspected Turkish drone strike.
Since the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has stepped up its campaign against Kurdish-led groups who control much of the north of the country. Turkey accuses these groups of being an outgrowth of the PKK.
"In Turkey, the Erdogan regime continues to attack opponents every day with new court rulings and police pressures to permanently silence democratic and equality pursuits," Bagdat told MEE.
"At the same time, developments in Syria are additionally leading to the targeting of sensitive voices regarding the Kurdish issue."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
32 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
World Central Kitchen founder faces backlash for handshake with Israeli president
World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder Chef Jose Andres is facing mounting criticism after meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to discuss Israel's seven-month blockade that has cut off aid to Gaza. Andres visited Gaza for the first time since the Israel's genocide began, sharing pictures and videos of the decimation and WCK's work along the way. After leaving the Strip, Andres posted that he met with Herzog on Sunday to discuss Israel's aid blockade, which Amnesty International has recently described as a deliberate campaign of starvation. "We talked in detail about how to flood Gaza with food and medicine so there is no hunger and no looting, so we can start rebuilding with hope and humanity," Andres wrote on X. "That means full permits and access for all NGOs who can help end the despair and suffering of Palestinians... they were committed to help all they can with the release of the hostages, end of the war, providing all humanitarian aid necessary and the reconstruction for Gaza." New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Herzog's X post about the meeting, praising WCK and featuring photos with Andres, became the flashpoint of the backlash. I was pleased to meet today with @ChefJoseAndres, founder and head of the world renowned aid organisation, @WCKitchen which has worked with dedication to help provide food to those in need in Israel and in Gaza - and indeed all over the world. True humanitarian assistance comes… — יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) August 17, 2025 Critics slammed Andres after seeing the post, saying the meeting amounted to condoning Israel's actions, including the targeting and killing of seven WCK international aid workers in April 2024. An Israeli air strike killed an additional three workers from the international NGO in November. Middle East Eye reached out to WCK for a response to the criticism they're facing, but did not receive a reply in time for publication. "He accepted a medal from the man who supplied the bombs that killed his @WCKitchen workers," one X user wrote, referencing President Biden awarding Andres the Medal of Freedom earlier this year. "Now he shakes hands with the man directing their murders." Israel murdered 7 of his employees and now he's doing photo ops with them. @chefjoseandres disgraceful. — B L A K E L E Y™℠©® LLC (@_iamblakeley) August 18, 2025 "The people you're shaking hands with have the blood of tens of thousands of Palestinians on their hands, the very people you claim to be helping," journalist Leyla Hamed posted on X. "And let's not forget: they also killed 7 members of your own NGO. Yet you still shake their hands. Disgraceful @chefjoseandres." Greater good? Others countered these criticisms by arguing that meetings like this are a part of Andres's role, and that it is necessary to help the humanitarian crisis Israel has manufactured in the Gaza Strip. "I hate that Herzog gets a photo-op with him (at least it's not you know who), I hate that this can be seen as disrespectful to the murdered WCK members, but if it gets food to the Gazan people, I can see why he would make the sacrifice," one user argued on a Reddit thread. "He's done far more for the Palestinian people, and suffering people worldwide, than I ever have, and I'm not going to hold him in judgement over this." Another user replied to this post, arguing that after two years of Israel's genocide in Gaza, it is natural for people to be sceptical of organisations or figures that Israeli officials publicly support. People are criticizing Chef José Andrés for visiting the Israeli President, etc. I'm obviously not in his head, but I think it's admirable that he is keeping his eye on *one* ball: to feed as many people in Gaza as possible. If it takes an annoying meeting, so be it. Life first. — Ami Dar (@AmiDar) August 18, 2025 "If this does lead to more food getting into Gaza without any conditionals, then fine. I'm willing to live with this compromise even if I think it's still fair to call out the hypocrisy," the user wrote. "However, we've also seen the past few months what it looks like when Israel coordinates efforts to let aid into Gaza between the GHF [Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] and the air drops leading to more deaths. I think it's more than a little right to be skeptical about an Israeli official suddenly being fine with aid given how they've weaponized it the past 4 months." Scrutiny over WCK's ties to Israel, which has publicly lauded the group's work, deepened after Israel banned the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa) – which is the primary source of humanitarian support for Palestinians across the Middle East – from operating in all of occupied Palestine in January. "No one other than World Central Kitchen has been allowed by Israel to bring aid in by sea, and in the past Israel has attacked and massacred civilian groups attempting to do so," Palestinian journalist Ali Abunimah wrote in the Electronic Intifada last year. "And such a 'venture' or 'pilot project' only makes sense in a context where Unrwa is being eliminated." Israel's inconsistent treatment of WCK compared to other international NGOs, along with Herzog's public praise for Andres, has led to the current backlash. The consistent message in the critics' posts of the meeting between the chef and the president is about the concern that Israel, and the US, are potentially using influential figures like him to "'whitewash" their image. "Israel murdered the workers of his NGO, but the chef forgives: he whitewashes the US and places the 'charity of the sandwich' wherever it benefits his business," one angered user posted on X. "May this photo haunt him wherever he goes."
Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel demands removal of UN agency for Palestinians before ending Jenin assault
Israeli officials have laid out a series of conditions to end their military assault on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, including closing Unrwa's office, removing the refugee status of the camps and reclassifying them as neighbourhoods. According to Jenin's mayor Mohammed Jarrar, the Dutch ambassador told him about Israel's conditions for withdrawing from the Jenin refugee camp. Jarrar said Michel Rentenaar, the Dutch ambassador to Palestine, told him that Israel wants the closure of the Unrwa office; wants a Palestinian police station to be opened within the refugee camp; for the camp to be redesignated as a neighbourhood, as opposed to a refugee camp; and for Israel to be able to conduct security checks on refugees returning to the camp after Israeli withdrawal. Palestinian police officers would have to work under the authority of and, on behalf of, Israeli security interests. 'These conditions are unacceptable to us, and we will not deal with them in any way, shape, or form,' Jarrar said, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Arabic language media outlets further reported that Palestinian Authority (PA) officials rejected demands made by the Israelis in talks on a possible Israeli withdrawal that are coordinated by Washington. "The Americans are leading the dialogue on this issue, and the PA responded to them by saying that the Unrwa is a red line and cannot be touched," said Palestinian sources cited by Al-Araby. US involvement The conditions for ending the military operation were laid out by the US coordinator for security affairs in the West Bank, Michael R Wenzel and Israeli military commanders, in a series of meetings held over the past few months. Israeli demands also include resettling around 50 percent of refugee camp residents in dispersed housing units away from the camp and restrictions on the rebuilding of homes destroyed by Israel. The conditions are tied to ending ongoing Israeli military operations in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps. Unrwa ban: US tells ICJ it's lawful for Israel to curtail work of UN agencies Read More » Palestinian officials say the conditions amount to an effort to strip refugees of their status and undermine the right of return. Israel launched a large-scale military operation named "Iron Wall" in January 2025, which has left large sections of the camps destroyed. The assault initially targeted Jenin, but was later extended to Tulkarm, and other areas of the occupied West Bank. Unrwa, which continues to provide limited support in the refugee camps in the West Bank, has been a target of Israeli campaigns, as it continues to recognise the refugee status of Palestinians expelled from their homelands during the Nakba, as well as their descendants. Before and during the establishment of Israel, Zionist gangs expelled more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in order to create a Jewish majority in their newly established state. Those Palestinians and their descendants have never been allowed to return home and now live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, as well as neighbouring Arab states. The existence of Unrwa tacitly recognises the right of those refugees to return to their homes in what is now considered Israel. US and Israeli officials have floated alternatives to the agency, including transferring Unrwa's education, health, and sanitation services to the Palestinian Authority. In July 2024, Israel's Knesset approved a bill seeking to terminate Israel's relations with Unrwa and declaring it a terrorist organisation.
Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Hamas files second appeal to overturn UK terror designation
The Palestinian group Hamas on Tuesday filed an appeal to the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC) to challenge the British government's refusal to remove the group from the UK's list of banned terrorist organisations. Hamas has instructed barristers Franck Magennis and Daniel Grutters to launch the appeal against UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's decision to reject the group's request to take it off the list of banned terrorist organisations. Magennis is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers and Grutters is a barrister at One Pump Court Chambers. Fahad Ansari, director of Riverway Law - which has since rebranded as Riverway to the Sea - is also supporting the barristers in the challenge. The lawyers involved in the case stressed that Hamas did not pay them or the experts and lawyers who provided evidence for its submission, as it is illegal to receive funds from a group designated as a terrorist organisation. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The UK Home Office did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication. Earlier this year, Mousa Abu Marzouk, head of Hamas' foreign relations office, instructed Magennis and Grutters to appeal a controversial decision by former UK home secretary Priti Patel to proscribe the group in its entirety in 2021. 'Biased and legally flawed' Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, had already been proscribed in the UK more than two decades earlier, but Patel extended the ban to the entire organisation, arguing that no distinction remained between its political and military wings. But in July, Cooper rejected the application to overturn Hamas's designation as a terrorist organisation. The appeal argues that his decision is "biased, legally flawed and politically motivated", noting that the home secretary had publicly labelled Hamas "barbaric". "The decision to ban Hamas is part of the logic justifying Israel's ongoing genocide. For Yvette Cooper to have cited Britain's supposed opposition to violence in the region is an insult to everyone's intelligence, and to people in Gaza in particular," Magennis said in a statement. "Palestinians are human, and they feel terror when Britain backs Israel's genocide. Yvette Cooper is complicit in the slaughter, and her latest decision to maintain the ban on Hamas shows it." Israel's war on Gaza: Who are Palestine Action? Read More » In its original application, Hamas argued that the proscription hinders the group's ability to broker a political solution to the conflict, stifles discussions aimed at securing a long-term settlement, and criminalises ordinary Palestinians living in Gaza. Its submission included expert testimony from Oxford-based Israeli academic Avi Shlaim, who urged the UK to take a "more nuanced position on Hamas" by delisting it as a terror organisation. When a proscribed group challenges its designation, the home secretary has 90 days to respond. Under Section 4 of the Terrorism Act, any organisation designated as a terrorist group may appeal to have its name removed from the government's list of banned organisations. Individuals who have been impacted by a group's proscription can also apply to the home secretary to have it deproscribed. The home secretary also has the discretion to add or remove any group engaged in armed conflict from the proscribed list. The power to designate a group as a terrorist organisation has come under renewed fire after Cooper designated Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. The direct action group denied the claims made against it and successfully sought a judicial review to oppose the ban.
