An İstanbul court has ordered an access ban on the X account of bianet and several journalists, citing "the protection of national security and public order."
The Bakırköy 7th Penal Judgeship of Peace issued the decision on Sep 30, 2026. The ruling also targeted the accounts of several journalists, including İrfan Değirmenci, Şirin Payzın, Burak Acerakis, Erdal Sağlam, Dinçer Gökçe, Sarya Toprak, Esra Tokat and Furkan Karabay, according to the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD), a group monitoring online censorship.
bianet received no notification about the ruling.
While X made some of the accounts unavailable in Turkey following the decision, bianet’s account remained accessible at the time of publication.
The same X accounts belonging to Değirmenci and Payzın were also blocked under a Sep 16 decision.
bianet editor, other journalists targeted in new social media censorship wave
bianet’s X account had previously been targeted by an access-ban order during the countrywide protests in March last year, which began after then-İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's detention. X did not enforce that decision.
X typically implements most of access-ban orders it receives from Turkish authorities.
The latest ruling comes amid a wave of online censorship in Turkey since last month. Hundreds of X accounts, including those of rights groups and activists, were blocked as part of the “My Family Is Safe” operations targeting the LGBTI+ community.
The blocked accounts included those of the İFÖD.
The website and social media accounts of independent news outlet T24 were also blocked over articles about the LGBTI+ community. (HA/VK)
