Musk’s X Shuts Down Political Opposition Accounts in Turkey

Elon Musk’s X has reportedly shut down political opposition accounts in Turkey amid intense civil unrest in the European country, Politico reports.

There are currently riots throughout Turkey after Ekrem İmamoğlu, a key figure in Turkey’s opposition and mayor of its largest city, Istanbul, was arrested earlier this week.

Yusuf Can, coordinator and analyst at the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, told Politico that the majority of the suspended accounts belonged to “grassroots activists” with followers in the low tens of thousands who shared protest locations for students. Many of these demonstrations are taking place near or at universities.

Many of the opposition accounts appear to have been fully suspended, while others appear to be restricted only within the country, Politico notes. The recent news may contradict Musk’s repeated claims to be a “free speech absolutist.”

According to X’s transparency report, it has complied with 86% of Turkey’s government requests to take down content in the second half of 2024. Turkey made more requests to remove content than any other country except Japan and made more requests than the entire European Union or the whole of North America.

Musk has personally weighed in on X’s relationship with the country. In a conversation with American activist Matthew Yglesias on X, critiquing Musk’s collaboration with the country’s government, Musk replied: “The choice is to have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?”

Twitter’s anti-censorship stance has been inconsistently applied. So far, X has blocked accounts tracking the movements of Musk’s private jet, while last year, the platform removed links to a leaked dossier on JD Vance. Earlier this month, many X users became unable to share links to Signal, an encrypted messaging app often used to communicate with journalists.

However, X has also faced nationwide bans due to its unwillingness to remove certain content. X endured a nationwide block in Brazil before later being reinstated after refusing to remove accounts that Judge Alexandre de Moraes alleged posed a threat to Brazil’s democracy. The legal battle in Brazil also led to sanctions against Musk’s other businesses, including SpaceX’s Starlink.

About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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