Turkey blocks access to platform monitoring web censorship

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

A judge has blocked access to the EngelliWeb platform, which monitors internet censorship in Turkey.

The Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD), which runs the platform, announced the ban on its website today (March 21).

The Rize Penal Judgeship of Peace ordered the ban yesterday, said the İFÖD. The decision was given after an application by multiple people in Trabzon who were at the center of "Ponzi scheme" allegations.

Prof. Yaman Akdeniz, a member of the association, said they would appeal against the decision.

The Rize judgeship also ruled that "those responsible for the relevant websites" should be charged for the applicants' attorney fees of 2,400 liras, he noted.

Annual censorship report

Published in October, the İFÖD's 2021 EngeliWeb report found that access to at least 107,706 web addresses was blocked in Turkey in a year.

Among the blocked addresses, 5,436 were news articles that were banned in 839 separate decisions by 251 penal judgeships of peace. The decisions were based on article 9 of Internet Law No. 5651, which obligates content providers to remove content within 24 hours upon applications by persons who claim their personal rights were violated.

In addition to articles banned by judges, news outlets removed 4,445 articles from their websites.

Since the 2014 enaction of article 9, some 509 judges have banned 28,474 web addresses in 5,986 separate decisions. Among them, 22,941 were news articles.

CLICK - BİA Media Monitoring 2022 Annual Report: Journalists Shackled Ahead of Elections

CLICK - BİA Media Monitoring Database

CLICK - BİA Media Monitoring Reports

(ME/HA/VK)