Turkey banned access to 219,059 URLs in 2023, according to the Free Web Turkey 2023 Internet Censorship Report released on Friday.
The report highlights that the censored URLs included 14,680 news articles, predominantly covering allegations of corruption and misconduct. Notably, these articles often implicated public officials and individuals with close ties to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The report details the scope of censorship in 2023, presenting a comprehensive list of blocked digital materials. It reveals that 197,907 domain names, 14,680 news articles, 5,641 social media posts, 743 social media accounts and 38 reviews on Google Maps were blocked. Additionally, 33 Google search results, nine mobile applications, five Google Drive files, two email addresses and one Google document were also blocked.
Among topics, alleged corruption and misconduct were the most censored, with 5,881 articles blocked. Crimes against women and children followed with 2,256 articles, and organized crime with 1,733 articles. Corruption and misconduct articles often named public officials (3,192 articles) and individuals close to the AKP (1,133 articles) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his family (646 articles).
Articles covering crimes against women and children frequently implicated public officials (693 articles), businesspeople (244 articles), political party representatives (219 articles), religious groups (157 articles), public institutions (125 articles), AKP affiliates (13 articles) and companies (4 articles).
Overall, the primary subjects of the 14,680 blocked news articles included public officials (5,150 articles), private citizens (2,580 articles), AKP affiliates (2,575 articles), companies (1,151 articles) and President Erdoğan and his family (854 articles).
Religious groups were the focus of 221 blocked articles across 11 separate decisions, covering crimes against women and children (157 articles), corruption and misconduct (60 articles), and religious exploitation (4 articles). Including social media posts, a total of 301 URLs related to religious groups were blocked in 2023.
The predominant reason for blocking articles was what Turkey’s authorities called “violation of personal rights,” presumably referring to libel, which accounted for 14,332 blocked news articles. The most frequently named subjects included public officials (5,150 articles), private citizens (2,580 articles), AKP affiliates (2,575 articles), companies (1,147 articles) and President Erdoğan and his family (854 articles).
In 2023 domain name blocks were most prevalent, with 197,907 URLs blocked across 173 decisions. Government-critical and pro-Kurdish news websites were particularly targeted, with multiple domain names blocked for some outlets. For instance, Kızıl Bayrak had five domains blocked, Etkin Haber Ajansı (ETHA) had four, Komün Dergi had three, Gazete Patika had three, Özgür Gelecek had three, Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish had two and Yeni Demokrasi Gazetesi also had two domains blocked. Single domain blocks were also reported for outlets like Voice of America (VOA) Turkish, Alınteri, Yeni Demokrat Gençlik, Yeni Yaşam, Avrupa Demokrat and the 100Süzler platform. Sözcü Gazetesi’s domain was blocked by the Ministry of Education in state schools.
The reasons for blocking these domains varied, with 24 blocked for national security and public order concerns, and three domains of VOA and DW blocked by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) for broadcasting without a license.
It is common for pro-opposition or independent news channels in Turkey to face restrictions on their broadcasting through sanctions imposed by RTÜK, whose board members are appointed in proportion to the number of seats held by political parties in parliament, meaning that the ruling AKP currently dominates the agency.
After a failed coup in July 2016, the Turkish government summarily shut down nearly 200 media outlets due to their alleged links to terrorism or their alleged involvement in terrorist propaganda. The post-coup crackdown also included the detention of dozens of journalists, which briefly made Turkey the second worst jailer of journalists in the world after China.
Turkey, which has been suffering from a poor record of freedom of the press for years, ranks 158th among 180 countries in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index published on May 3 on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day.
