Türkiye fines Meta for refusing to suspend protests-linked accounts

Meta announced it had been hit with a "substantial" fine for refusing to comply with Turkish government demands to restrict content on Facebook and Instagram.

Turkish government tried to suspend social media accounts sharing information on the widespread protests following the arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

"We pushed back on requests from the Turkish government to restrict content that is clearly in the public interest, and have been fined by them as a consequence," Meta spokesperson said, declining to identify the scale of the fine.

"Government requests to restrict speech online alongside threats to shut down online services are severe and have a chilling effect on people’s ability to express themselves," Meta added in statement.

In 2024 Meta received 5,677 requests from Turkish authorities to remove content, 4,199 of which came from Türkiye's communications authority, Meta's transparency report said.

Meta heeded 40 percent of the requests, the report said.

The rights groups and journalists’ organisations also call on the Turkish government to cease pressuring online platforms to block content.

"Rather than simply accepting such blocking orders, we urge platforms to take all steps possible to limit their scope and duration, including by challenging their legality in court. Platforms should also be transparent towards affected users and the broader public about government requests for censorship and measures taken in response; and take all possible steps to maintain platform access in the event of shutdowns or throttling,"-  their statement reads.

Plarform X issued a statement according to which it objected to ‘multiple court orders [...] to block over 700 accounts’, including those of news organisations, journalists, and political figures. On 26 March, X announced that they filed an individual application before the Constitutional Court challenging an order by Türkiye's Information Technologies Authority to block 126 accounts. 

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