Turkish authorities have blocked access in Turkey to the Stockholm Center for Freedom’s (SCF) X account as part of a sweeping order targeting 146 social media accounts, including those of critical journalists and human rights groups, according to a court decision recently communicated to SCF.
SCF confirmed on Friday that its account was inaccessible to users connecting from Turkey. The court order shows that the Ankara 4th Criminal Magistrate of Peace approved the restriction on June 26, after the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) imposed an interim blocking measure based on a request from the Turkish National Police the previous day.
The four-page ruling did not identify any specific SCF post or provide individualized reasoning for the restriction, instead approving the accounts collectively on national security and public order grounds under Article 8/A of Turkey’s internet law.
Among the other accounts named in the order were those of journalists Adem Yavuz Arslan, Sevinç Özarslan, Said Sefa, Ahmet Dastan and Turhan Bozkurt as well as the International Journalists Association (IJA) and the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF).
Also targeted were KHK TV, a YouTube channel featuring the stories of people dismissed by emergency decrees and rights organizations including the Brussels-based Human Rights Center, Cross Border Jurists and the European Justice Initiative.
The order comes ahead of the 10th anniversary of a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, which was followed by a sweeping crackdown that saw 179 media and publishing outlets shut down under emergency decrees and scores of journalists jailed, at one point making Turkey the world’s leading jailer of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The latest order is part of a broader escalation in online censorship. Since the beginning of 2026, Turkish authorities have issued a growing number of orders blocking access to the online content and social media accounts of Kurdish media outlets and left-wing groups, LGBTI+ rights advocates and individuals and organizations linked to the faith-based Gülen movement.
Turkey has long faced criticism from international press freedom groups and human rights organizations for its restrictions on free expression and its pressure on independent journalism. Authorities frequently seek court orders to block online content and social media accounts, especially when their posts involve high-ranking officials or politically sensitive material.
The US-based democracy watchdog Freedom House’s “2025 Freedom on the Net” report placed Turkey among the five countries with the steepest long-term declines in internet freedom. The organization cited broad censorship practices and intensified digital controls over the past 15 years, giving Turkey a score of 31 out of 100, putting it in the bottom tier of the 72 countries assessed.
