Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been accused of silencing critics of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Twitter ahead of Turkey’s presidential election.
Before the election, Twitter’s Global Government Affairs unit on Saturday announced that there will be restrictions on access to some content in Turkey, stating that account holders were informed of this action.
Twitter’s Global Affairs wrote,
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“In response to the legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today. We have informed the account holders of this action in line with our policy. This content will remain available in the rest of the world.
In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today.
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) May 13, 2023
“In accordance with the court decisions regarding the blocking of access to Twitter, and in order to ensure that Twitter remains available for use in Turkey, we have blocked the access of some content in Turkey. Within the framework of our policies, we have informed the relevant account holders about these transactions. Blocked content will continue to be available in the rest of the world”.
Meanwhile, following Twitter’s action to block some accounts ahead of the Turkish election, Musk has been heavily criticized and accused of silencing supporters of Erdogan’s opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
On Twitter, @ryangrim wrote, “Looks like Erdogan demanded Elon musk censor his political opposition a day ahead of the election and he immediately complied. Musk is either the world’s most sanctimonious hypocrite, coward, and fraud, or actually wants to censor the opposition to help Erdogan. Or both.”
@JuddLegum wrote, “NOTE: Elonmusk has said ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CRITICAL about Erdo?an’s demands to censor his political opponents on the eve of an election. Musk simply complied with the demands and defended his decision”.
@UrielEpshtein wrote, “Musk admits to limiting free speech to protect dictator-approved speech. It’s clear that he’s not driven at all by values but by expediency. And the answer, @elonmusk, is you should have stuck to your purported principles and exposed Erdogan as the authoritarian that he is”.
Days before Turkey headed into the most consequential presidential election , most opinion polls showed President Tayyip Erdogan trailing behind opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. However, on Sunday during the election, observers and voters alike were perplexed after results showed Erdogan leading his rival by a margin.
With more than 99 percent of votes counted, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Erdogan had received 49.51 percent of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), had secured 44.89 percent. Because neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, a run-off will take place on May 28.
Following Sunday’s election, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan disclosed that his country showed it has an advanced democratic culture. Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary polls presented the biggest challenge in Erdogan’s 20 years as leader of Turkey.
Some critics have warned that if Erdogan loses by a small margin he may refuse to stand down, as happened when the AKP lost control of Ankara and Istanbul in municipal elections that it contested, even forcing a re-run in the latter.