Access to Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project has been blocked in Turkey following an administrative decision by the Turkish Football Federation, the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) reported.
The restriction targets the domain name "ampproject.org," which powers the open-source framework designed to enable faster loading of web pages on mobile devices.
The decision to block access was issued on Feb 18 according to İFÖD. The federation has not made any public statement regarding the move, and the reasoning behind the decision remains unclear.
The federation also restricted access to the same domain previously in Jan 2025. That ban was lifted about 16 hours later following public backlash.
Turkey blocked record number of web addresses in 2024, surpassing 300,000
Federation's authority to block access
The federation's authority to impose such restrictions stems from an supplementary article added in 2021 to Law No. 5894 on Turkish Football Federation, under the title “protection of broadcasting rights.”
The provision allows the federation’s board to block access to online broadcasts of football matches that are deemed to violate copyright laws within Turkey.
The law states that if it is not technically possible to block specific infringing content, such as particular URLs, the board may issue a decision to block access to an entire website.
Report: Turkey blocked access to over 40,000 URLs in 2022
These decisions are then sent to the Access Providers Union under Article 6/A of Turkey’s Law No. 5651, which governs online publications and content-related offenses. The law allows for appeals to a penal court of peace within one week of the decision.
An administrative unit within the federation is responsible for enforcing such decisions. The board may also delegate its authority to this unit.
The legislation has faced criticism for enabling site-wide bans on broad technical grounds and for routing decisions through a non-judicial administrative process. Legal experts argue that this framework allows disproportionate interference with access to online content and lacks adequate oversight.
Report: Over 8,700 news articles censored in Turkey in 2024
Constitutional Court ruling
The Constitutional Court on Oct 14 ruled that the federation's power to block access was unconstitutional. However, the court delayed the implementation of its decision for nine months, setting a deadline of Jul 14, 2026, for it to take effect.
Legal experts point out that this delay has created a legally ambiguous period during which the federation can continue to exercise powers that have already been declared unconstitutional.
AMP’s global reach
Originally developed by Google, AMP is a web component framework aimed at enhancing page load speeds, especially on mobile devices. It has been widely adopted by news outlets, e-commerce platforms, and publishers worldwide as part of efforts to improve user experience.
Turkey’s latest decision to block access to AMP has sparked further debate over the country’s approach to digital rights and the transparency of internet restrictions. (HA/VK)
