A Turkish court has blocked access to 177 news reports and social media posts over allegations involving Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Batuhan Mumcu, his wife Neslihan Mumcu and a conglomerate she co-owns, according to the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD).
The access ban was issued by the İstanbul 4th Criminal Magistrate of Peace, which cited national security and public order concerns. The ruling targets news reports and social media posts concerning allegations of stock market manipulation that have recently put Batuhan Mumcu at the center of public scrutiny.
Blocked content includes social media posts by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Oğuz Kaan Salıcı and journalist Bahadır Özgür as well as the domain name of the Baba Ocağı news website and journalist Serdar Akinan’s X account and YouTube channel. The court order also covered content generated by X’s artificial intelligence assistant, Grok.
Salıcı had publicly raised questions about stock market activity involving Batuhan and Neslihan Mumcu. Separately, journalist Bahadır Özgür shared allegations concerning two subsidiaries of Lydia Investment Holding, a company co-owned by Neslihan Mumcu.
Turkish authorities blocked access to 740,624 domain names and 8,762 news reports in 2024, according to the Internet Censorship Report.
Turkey’s increasing use of digital censorship has been cited by press freedom monitors as a key factor in the country’s poor ranking in global media freedom indices.
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.
