Turkey has blocked access to an X account opened to promote the presidential campaign of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the jailed mayor of İstanbul and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) presidential candidate, citing “national security” and the need to protect “public order,” Turkish Minute reported.
The decision targets the Cumhurbaşkanlığı Aday Ofisi (Presidential Candidate Office) account, which İmamoğlu has been using through his lawyers to continue posting after his personal account was restricted in Turkey earlier this year.
İmamoğlu’s main X account was blocked in Turkey on May 8 following a court decision that deemed one of his prison messages a national security threat. He had 9.7 million followers.
The İstanbul mayor, seen as the most powerful political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was arrested in March. He received the votes of 15 million people in a primary held shortly thereafter and was formally declared the CHP’s presidential candidate.
He is currently being held in the notorious Marmara Prison in Silivri on corruption charges widely criticized as politically motivated.
The latest access ban was first reported by EngelliWeb, a digital rights group that monitors online censorship in Turkey. According to the group, the order was formally conveyed to internet service providers and lists national security and public order concerns as its justification.
Following his arrest, CHP established a Presidential Candidate Office for İmamoğlu, with the first branch opening in Ankara in July.
The move to block his campaign account comes shortly after prosecutors on Tuesday released a nearly 4,000-page indictment accusing İmamoğlu of running what they call a “criminal organization” within the municipality and committing 142 offenses including bribery, fraud, bid rigging and money laundering.
They also claim that he used illegal funds to gain political control of the CHP and prepare for an election run against President Erdoğan.
The charges carry a cumulative prison sentence of between 828 and 2,430 years.
As of Thursday X had not yet enforced the visibility restriction within Turkey.
İmamoğlu, 54, rose to prominence after defeating Erdoğan’s party twice in İstanbul’s 2019 municipal race, ending the ruling party’s 25-year control of the city. He won re-election in 2024 despite mounting legal pressure.
The moves to block İmamoğlu’s accounts also come amid a wave of digital censorship following his arrest, which triggered the largest protests in Turkey since the Gezi Park demonstrations in 2013.
Dozens of X accounts belonging to critical journalists, activists in and outside the country and people who posted about the nationwide protests that erupted after İmamoğlu’s arrest have been blocked over the past months.
X said it complied with the order to avoid further sanctions, including potential throttling of the platform, but added that it is appealing the decision.
Critics argue that the platform’s compliance with Turkish legal demands has allowed the government to suppress opposition voices.
Although the court orders are officially restricted to Turkey, rights groups warn that X’s algorithmic behavior reduces the global visibility of censored accounts even outside the country.
The Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) and EngelliWeb have documented a sharp rise in government takedown orders since early 2025, many targeting journalists, activists and opposition figures living in exile.
