Twitter has faced criticism over its decision to restrict content in Turkey before Sunday's election. The company began blocking posts in Turkey ahead of the vote, which pitted current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
- In explaining the move, Twitter cited legal processes and its commitment to ensuring the availability of its platform to users in Turkey.
- Owner Elon Musk also defended the decision, saying that the only options were to limit access to some tweets or throttle the platform in its entirety.
- While the company didn't specify what content was restricted, it did inform affected account holders. Users in other countries could still view the content, it noted.
- According to the news site Turkish Minute, the censored accounts included Kurdish businessman Muhammed Yakut, who accused Erdogan and allies of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016, and investigative journalist Cevheri Güven, who exposes corruption within the country.
- Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu will now face off in a runoff election on May 28 after neither secured more than 50% of the vote needed for an outright victory.
- Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades, holds an advantage in the runoff due to his first-round lead and the potential support of conservative voters who previously backed another candidate.
- Turkey briefly blocked Twitter in February following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that caused over 50,000 fatalities