MLSA’s internet freedom monitor Freeweb 2023 Internet Censorship report, detailing the scale of digital content censorship in Turkey, has been released in English.
The report, prepared by Freeweb Project Coordinator Ali Safa Korkut, shows that in the past year, a total of 219,059 URLs were subjected to access bans. This includes 197,907 domain names, 14,680 news articles, 5,641 social media posts, 743 social media accounts, and 38 reviews posted on businesses' Google Maps listings.
In addition to these, access was also blocked to 33 Google search results, 9 mobile apps, 5 Google Drive files, 2 email addresses, and 1 Google document.
Corruption-related news articles most frequently censored
Among the blocked news articles, those related to corruption and misconduct were the most affected, with 5,881 articles being censored. Following this were news reports on crimes against women and children (2,256 articles) and organized crime (1,733 articles).
The censorship of corruption-related articles primarily targeted stories involving public officials (3,192 articles), individuals and organizations linked to the ruling AKP (1,133 articles), and President Erdoğan and his family (646 articles).
Censorship predominantly targets public officials and AKP-affiliated figures
Overall, the majority of the 14,680 blocked news articles pertained to public officials (5,150 articles), private citizens (2,580 articles), AKP-affiliated individuals and organizations (2,575 articles), companies (1,151 articles), and President Erdoğan and his family (854 articles). Corruption and misconduct were the most common topics in articles about public officials (3,192 articles), while stories about crimes against women and children (693 articles) were also frequently censored. Similarly, articles concerning AKP-affiliated figures mostly focused on corruption and misconduct, with 1,133 such articles being blocked.
News websites blocked in the name of national security
The largest share of access bans in 2023 targeted domain names, with 197,907 URLs blocked. These restrictions were enforced through 173 different court rulings. As in 2022, non-pro-government online newspapers were particularly affected by these access bans. Over the past year, 30 domain names associated with news websites were blocked under 29 separate rulings, with some publishers facing multiple bans on their domain names.
This ongoing censorship reflects a broader trend of stifling independent media and controlling the flow of information in Turkey under the pretext of addressing national security concerns.
