Microsoft blocks access to T24

Microsoft, which provides server services for T24 news portal, blocked access to all of T24's content on the evening of October 30 due to a news report containing the response of Beşiktaş soccor team's interim coach, Burak Yılmaz, to allegations of domestic violence against his spouse.

T24's broadcast was inaccessible for 4 hours and 15 minutes, from 22:00 on October 30 to 02:15 on October 31.

T24 reported that they argued that the access restriction imposed on all content due to the news about Burak Yılmaz, which was notified to them yesterday evening, is contrary to the law and press freedom. They made efforts to lift the block, but Microsoft Turkey and its partners could not remove the access restriction.

Editor-in-Chief calls Microsoft Turkey's General Manager

The prominent news portal also reported that their Editor-in-Chief, Doğan Akın, called Microsoft Turkey's General Manager, Levent Özbilgin due to the unresolved access issue,.

Akın informed Özbilgin that access to all of the site's content had been blocked due to a request related to a specific article. He pointed out that the news related to the request was still available on dozens of other platforms and insisted that the immediate removal of the access restriction applied to the entire site was necessary, since this was something that state authorities responsible for URL blocking decisions had not done in the past 14 years.

In response, Microsoft Turkey's General Manager Levent Özbilgin expressed his displeasure, saying, "Why are you bothering me at this hour? Who do you think you are! Don't call me again." (T24 keeps records of this conversation, it is stated).

BİA MEDIA MONITORING / JULY-AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2023

Desire to silence journalists to conceal crimes

4 October 2023

(TY/PE)