Turkish authorities have blocked access to 194 X accounts, including those of prominent economists and journalists, amid turmoil in the country’s investment-fund market and investigations into alleged market manipulation.
The accounts, which have a combined following of about 12 million, were targeted in investigations by prosecutors in İstanbul and Ankara over allegations that they made speculative posts about capital-market instruments that could cause fear and panic among investors, according to the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD).
The affected accounts include those of economist and columnist Uğur Gürses, economist Veysel Ulusoy, finance professor Bilge Yılmaz, cryptocurrency analyst Ted Pillows, investment consultant Emre Şirin, journalists Naz Yavuzarslan, Dinçer Gökçe and actor Orhan Aydın.
Among the restricted posts was a September 16 post by Gürses calling for the State Supervisory Council to investigate what had happened with the funds. He asked who had allowed the situation to develop, why precautions had not been taken and who had benefited.
Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK) said Wednesday that it had ordered the liquidation of 131 funds managed by seven portfolio management companies. According to the country’s central securities registry, 455,758 individual investors have holdings in the funds.
The funds held about TL 891 billion ($18.3 billion) in assets, and some were unable to meet investors’ redemption requests last week. The resulting selloff contributed to losses across the market, with Turkey’s main stock index falling more than 8 percent during the week.
The turmoil has also prompted criminal investigations into alleged market manipulation. A Turkish court on Wednesday jailed five investment executives pending trial, bringing to nine the number jailed in the investigation, while 14 more people were detained on Tuesday.
Halk TV journalist Gökçe criticized the restriction on his account, saying that blocking journalists and commentators would not resolve the problems surrounding the funds.
İFÖD said the restrictions were imposed under Article 8/A of Turkey’s Law No. 5651, which allows authorities to block online content on grounds including national security and public order. The group criticized the use of the provision to block entire social media accounts, saying such measures can restrict access to material beyond the specific posts at issue and disproportionately interfere with freedom of expression.
Turkey’s growing use of digital censorship has been flagged by press freedom and rights groups as a major driver of the country’s declining standing in global media freedom rankings. Freedom House’s 2025 “Freedom on the Net” report placed Turkey among the five countries with the steepest long-term declines in internet freedom, giving it a score of 31 out of 100, putting it in the bottom tier of the 72 countries assessed.
