Turkey Blocks Social Media Accounts, Arrests 80, as LGBT Crackdown Expands

Flags at an LGBTQ+ Pride march in Istanbul, June 2023. Photo: EPA/ERDEM SAHIN. An Istanbul court on Wednesday ordered access blocks on 419 social media accounts that it claimed had “shared obscene content”, as Turkish authorities continued a broad crackdown against LGBTQ+ groups in the name of “protecting the family”. Turkey’s state-led Anadolu Agency reported that, under the coordination of the Cyber ​​Crimes Investigation Bureau, the Istanbul Police had conducted a study aimed at protecting families, children and young people from all forms of abuse. “Within this scope, access was blocked to 419 social media accounts and links deemed to contain obscene content that were found to have been shared on social media platforms,” it wrote. The blocked accounts include those of journalists, activists, media houses and women’s civil society groups. It is not clear which content was deemed obscene. “If you think that banning journalists and shutting down accounts will solve the problems, unfortunately you’re very mistaken,” commented Sirin Payzin, a veteran journalist whose account was blocked on Wednesday. X immediately made his account invisible from Turkey. She has 1.8 million followers on X. Raids, arrests and internet restrictions have targeted these groups as well as independent journalists and human rights organisations reporting on the police operation. On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, courts ordered at least 80 formal arrests of LGBTQ+ rights activists, their supporters and journalists. However, 106 people detained earlier in a protest against the operation in Istanbul were released. LGBTQ+ and human rights groups argue that the operations target freedom of expression, freedom of association and human rights advocacy. The authorities insist the investigations are being conducted within the framework of criminal law. Gurkan Ozturan, Monitoring Officer at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, told BIRN that the operations instigated by the conservative Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “show that the authorities are criminalising both identity and information”.