Turkey Submits 2,642 Censor Requests, Twitter Complies 1,820
Previously taken back, Twitter now released its transparency report on Turkey again. According to the report, Turkey still tops the list worldwide with most requests to censor tweets.
According to the report,
*Between Jul 1 - Dec 31 in 2014, Turkey submitted 356 account information requests of 495 specified accounts. None of these requests were complied.
* Between Jan 1 - Jun 30 in 2014, Turkey submitted 24 account information requests of 27 specified accounts. None of these requests were complied. Twitter didn’t share any of these data either.
* Twitter received 328 court orders and 149 requests from Turkish government agencies directing Twitter to remove content ranging from violations of personal rights to defamation of private citizens and/or government officials on 2,642 specified accounts. Twitter complied to 50 percent of requests.
* According to that, 62 Twitter accounts, 1,820 tweets have been withheld. Twitter, on the other hand, withheld only 1,982 tweets worldwide. Therefore, Turkey topped the list for withheld requests. Out of 85 withheld accounts worldwide, 62 were from Turkey.
* The report also revealed that there has been an increase on the number of withheld request by Turkey in the past six months. Between Jan 1 - Jun 30 in 2014, Turkey submitted 186 request to remove 304 accounts. Twitter complied to 30 percent, withholding 17 accounts and 183 tweets.
Contradictions resume
On December 23, 2014, Minister of Transportation, Maritime and Communication Lütfi Elvan told Turkey’s Anatolia News Agency that 84 accounts have been withheld across Turkey during Kobane protest between October 6 and 8. However, these tolls are 22 less than what twitter has announced regarding the number of withheld accounts in the entire six month period.
* Click here to read Twitter’s Transparency Report. (EA/BM)
* When a content or account is withheld, they are unreachable in certain countries. In order to avoid the application, country settings need to be changed.
* Click here to read the article in Turkish.