Earlier this month, Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford got a notice from X: her account was being blocked in Turkey. She asked the Turkish presidency why and has yet to get an answer. She isn’t the only one.
Crawford is one of at least 1,270 accounts Turkish courts ordered X to block in September. X made roughly 90% of them unavailable in Turkey, according to the Freedom of Expression Association. Weeks before X began blocking these accounts in Turkey, Elon Musk declared that “any censorship required by governments is now clearly visible.”
While American social media platforms show clear outrage when they are banned in other countries, they rarely show the same outrage when Turkey silences its citizens online. These bans and blocks disproportionately hit marginalized communities, particularly those who rely on these platforms to organize, share information, and make their experiences visible. These restrictions reduce the visibility of minority perspectives and encourage self-censorship among LGBTQ+ people, activists, and independent journalists. A democracy depends on people being able to access information, express their views, and participate in public debate. When certain communities are systematically pushed out of these spaces, their experiences and perspectives become less visible in the broader political conversation.
The Crackdown Behind the Blocks
Since the failed 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, the government has steadily expanded its control over the information environment, including by targeting journalists, media organizations, and political opponents who criticize the government. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), roughly 90% of Turkey’s traditional media is currently under government control. As a result, many journalists have turned to YouTube and social media to reach audiences independently of traditional outlets. These platforms, however, have also become subject to government pressure, including licensing requirements, arrest threats, and content restrictions.
The scale of these restrictions was particularly visible following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Between March 19 and April 12, 2025, X blocked access in Turkey to at least 471 accounts with a combined 17.2 million followers. The affected accounts ranged from journalists with more than 1.2 million followers to grassroots organizations with fewer than ten. At least 22 of the blocked accounts belonged to women’s rights organizations, including the We Will Stop Femicides Platform, which had approximately 181,000 followers. The breadth of the restrictions suggests that online censorship in Turkey has affected not only prominent journalists but also smaller civil-society and activist organizations.
Similar restrictions were reported in September 2026 during the government’s “My Family Is Safe” operation targeting LGBTQ+ organizations. On September 13, access to 32 X accounts—many belonging to university LGBTQ+ groups—was blocked in Turkey. Three days later, an Istanbul court ordered access restrictions on another 419 accounts over allegations that they had shared “obscene content.” The accounts reportedly included journalists, activists, media organizations, and women’s rights groups. The restrictions also affected the accounts of Evrensel newspaper, Amnesty International Turkey, and the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA). Moreover, the website and social media accounts of the news organization T24 were blocked over content authorities characterized as “LGBT propaganda.”
When American Platforms Do Ankara’s Work
The role of social media companies is particularly significant because many of these restrictions depend on platforms complying with requests from Turkish authorities. Transparency reports show high compliance with government requests: TikTok (91.8%), X (85.66%), Instagram (79.15%), Google (77.5%), and Facebook (42%). These rates illustrate that restrictions on online speech do not result solely from direct government censorship. When platforms carry out blocking orders without challenge, government censorship reaches the spaces where journalists and activists work independently. The result is a chilling effect: people who have not been blocked censor themselves, and citizens lose access to information they need to take part in public life.
X says it challenges the orders in court and that refusing risks throttling the entire platform in Turkey. But when a court ordered İmamoglu’s campaign account blocked in August, X implemented the block while contesting it. The damage also reaches Americans: the accounts blocked include U.S.-based @Gayety and @Pride.
The hypocrisy is hard to miss. X has long portrayed itself as a defender of free speech, and American officials and tech executives have spent years warning about foreign censorship. Yet when a NATO ally demands that dissidents be erased, American companies behave like compliance departments.
The Silence After the Block
The impact of censorship extends beyond the accounts that are formally blocked. It can also affect people who remain free to post but choose not to do so. Journalists, activists, academics, and ordinary users may engage in self-censorship because they fear arrest, legal consequences, harassment, or repercussions for people associated with them. Self-censorship occurs when individuals possess information or opinions they would otherwise share but deliberately withhold them because they perceive a risk in speaking publicly. In this sense, censorship can operate indirectly: the possibility of punishment may be enough to silence speech even when no account has been formally restricted.
However, this self-censorship has consequences. Activists in Turkey use online platforms to raise awareness about violence, sexual assault, and killings targeting marginalized groups. For communities whose perspectives receive limited attention in traditional media, social media can provide an important space to document abuse, organize campaigns, and reach audiences both inside and outside the country. Yet while people continue to rely on these platforms for information, they must also navigate the risks associated with speaking publicly online.
This creates a broader chilling effect on public discussion. When websites are blocked or activists are arrested, others may become less willing to publish, share, or amplify information about marginalized communities. The result is not simply the removal of individual accounts or pieces of content; it can also reduce the amount of information available to the public about abuses affecting vulnerable groups. For communities that depend on outside attention and advocacy, these restrictions may also make it more difficult to reach international audiences and build cross-border support.
Online censorship in Turkey is expanding, and it falls especially hard on marginalized groups. Turkey still holds elections, but democracy depends on more than voting: when journalists, activists and opposition figures are blocked from the platforms where public debate happens, the choice voters make is less informed and less free. Those platforms are American, and so is a share of the responsibility.
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