Free Web Turkey releases 2023 Internet Censorship Report: Individuals close to AKP at the top

The Free Web Turkey 2023 Internet Censorship report, which shows how many domain names, news articles, social media posts, social media accounts, and other digital materials were blocked in 2023, has been published.

According to the report prepared by Free Web Turkey Project Coordinator Ali Safa Korkut, access blocking decisions were issued for a total of 219,059 URLs last year, including 197,907 domain names, 14,680 news articles, 5,641 social media posts, 743 social media accounts, and 38 reviews left on businesses' Google-registered locations.

YOU CAN ACCESS THE FULL REPORT HERE

In addition to these, access was also blocked for 33 Google search engine results, 9 mobile applications, 5 Google Drive files, 2 email addresses, and 1 Google document.

The report, prepared as a result of one year of monitoring activities, includes all statistics regarding blocked digital materials, as well as prominent access blocking decisions, news articles blocked by mistake, censorship applied to social media during the February 6 earthquakes, news articles blocked on the grounds of being used as a pretext for the arrest of journalists, and the latest decisions by the Constitutional Court (AYM) regarding laws that allow for access blocking.

NEWS CONCERNING CORRUPTION AND IRREGULARITIES WERE THE MOST BLOCKED

When looking at the distribution of blocked news articles by subject, corruption and irregularities ranked first (5,881 articles), followed by crimes committed against women and children (2,256 articles) and organized crime (1,733 articles).

In the 5,881 news articles concerning corruption and irregularities that were blocked, the individuals alleged to have committed the crimes were identified as public officials (3,192 articles), individuals and organizations close to the AKP (1,133 articles), and President Erdoğan and his family (646 articles).

In the 2,256 news articles concerning crimes committed against women and children, it was alleged that the perpetrators were public officials (693 articles), business people (244 articles), political party representatives (219 articles), religious sects and communities (157 articles), public institutions (125 articles), individuals and organizations close to the AKP (13 articles), and companies (4 articles).

NEWS ARTICLES ALLEGING INVOLVEMENT OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND INDIVIDUALS CLOSE TO AKP WERE BLOCKED

When looking at who the 14,680 blocked news articles were about in general, the top five were public officials (5,150 articles), private citizens (2,580 articles), individuals and organizations close to the AKP (2,575 articles), companies (1,151 articles), and President Erdoğan and his family (854 articles).

Corruption and irregularities (3,192 articles) and crimes committed against women and children (693 articles) stood out as the subjects of news articles concerning public officials. Among the subjects of news articles concerning individuals and organizations close to the AKP, corruption and irregularities again ranked first with 1,133 articles. Of the 854 blocked news articles concerning President Erdoğan and his family, 646 contained allegations of corruption and irregularities.

ACCESS BLOCKED FOR NEWS ARTICLES ALLEGING ABUSE AND CORRUPTION BY RELIGIOUS SECTS

A total of 221 news articles involving religious sects/communities were blocked by 11 different decisions; the subjects of these articles were crimes committed against women and children (157 articles), corruption and irregularities (60 articles), and religious exploitation (4 articles).

When we include social media posts in this number, it was determined that a total of 301 URLs involving religious sects/communities were blocked in 2023.

Izmir 4th Criminal Court of Peace was the authority that blocked the most news

The authority that blocked the most news was the Izmir 4th Criminal Court of Peace with 819 articles, while eight criminal courts of peace from Istanbul were in the top 10.

NEWS ARTICLES BLOCKED ON THE GROUNDS OF "VIOLATION OF PERSONAL RIGHTS"

When looking at the grounds for blocking the news articles, "violation of personal rights" ranked first, cited as the reason for blocking 14,332 articles.

Looking at the subjects of these articles, the top five were public officials with 5,150 articles, citizens with 2,580 articles, individuals and organizations close to the AKP with 2,575 articles, companies with 1,147 articles, and President Erdoğan and his family with 854 articles.

NEWS SITES BLOCKED, NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE RESOLVED

In 2023, the highest number of access blocks, 197,907 URLs, was applied to domain names.

While this number was reached through 173 decisions, as in 2022, access blocks applied to non-pro-government online newspapers came to the fore in 2023.

In fact, 30 domain names belonging to news sites were blocked by 29 different decisions last year, and some publishers' domain names were blocked more than once.

For example, five different domain names belonging to the Kızıl Bayrak newspaper, four belonging to the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), three belonging to Komün Dergi, three belonging to Gazete Patika, three belonging to Özgür Gelecek, two belonging to Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish, and two belonging to the Yeni Demokrasi Gazetesi were blocked as a result of court decisions.

Voice of America (VOA) Turkish, Alınteri, Yeni Demokrat Gençlik, Yeni Yaşam, and Avrupa Demokrat newspapers, as well as the 100Süzler platform, were also blocked once. Jinnews was blocked by Türk Telekom for its own customers, while the domain name of Sözcü newspaper, sozcu.com.tr, was blocked in state schools by the Ministry of National Education on May 14.

While 24 of these newspapers were blocked on the grounds of protecting national security and public order, three domain names belonging to VOA and DW were blocked upon the request of RTÜK on the grounds that they were broadcasting without a license.

PROVINCIAL GENDARMERIE COMMANDS DOMINATED THE LIST

When looking at the distribution of authorities that blocked the most URLs in the domain name category, no criminal court of peace was in the top 10, while provincial gendarmerie commands dominated the list.

The General Directorate of the National Lottery Administration ranked first with 160,274 blocked domain names, followed by the Ankara, Gaziantep, Denizli, and Aydın provincial gendarmerie commands, respectively.

All domain names blocked by provincial gendarmerie commands and the General Directorate of the National Lottery Administration were blocked on the grounds that they aimed to profit by committing crimes such as "illegal betting, fraud, obscene images, stock market manipulation, terrorist organization propaganda, contribution to the financing of terrorism," etc., as specified in Article 8 of Law No. 5651.

BLOCKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS CONCERNING CORRUPTION AND IRREGULARITIES

The number of social media posts that were blocked in 2023 was 5,641.

While this number was reached through 135 different court decisions, when the blocked posts were analyzed by subject, corruption and irregularities ranked first with 2,948 posts. This corresponds to more than half of the social media posts that were blocked in 2023.

Following social media posts concerning corruption and irregularities were social media posts concerning crimes committed against women and children. In 2023, 1,607 news articles on this subject were blocked by 35 different decisions.

[IMAGE 7 - Basic distribution of social media post blocks by subject]

INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS CLOSE TO AKP ARE AT THE TOP HERE TOO

Individuals and organizations close to the AKP were the subject of 2,091 of the 5,641 blocked social media posts, and this number was reached through 20 different decisions.

When the subjects of these posts were examined, corruption and irregularities ranked first. In 2023, 1,672 social media posts concerning corruption and irregularities, where the subject was individuals and organizations close to the AKP, were blocked.

THE SIDAR DEMİROĞLU DETAIL

The Istanbul Anadolu 4th Criminal Court of Peace, where Sidar Demiroğlu, who was investigated and dismissed on charges of issuing access blocking decisions in exchange for bribes, served as a judge, was the authority that blocked the most social media posts.

The court, which issued access blocking orders for 1,796 social media posts, reached this number with 21 decisions, 20 of which bore Demiroğlu's signature.

The number of social media accounts that were blocked in 2023 was 743. The subjects covered by the blocked social media accounts are as follows:

GOOGLE REVIEWS AND EMAIL ADDRESSES WERE ALSO BLOCKED

In 2023, in addition to domain names, news articles, social media posts, and social media accounts, access was even blocked for reviews left on profiles of businesses registered on Google, which also include location information.

All 38 blocked reviews consisted of complaints and negative experiences regarding the real and/or legal persons in question.

Access blocking decisions were also issued for email addresses in 2023.

It is technically impossible to block access to email addresses, but judges evaluating access blocking requests issued access blocking orders for email addresses.

The access blocking decision regarding [email protected] was issued by the Ankara 3rd Criminal Court of Peace on February 10, 2023, while the decision regarding [email protected] was issued by the Gaziosmanpaşa 1st Criminal Court of Peace on August 22, 2023.

News Source: 12punto