Turkish authorities have blocked access to 3,679 social media accounts they allege were connected to the faith-based Gülen movement during a seven-month digital enforcement campaign, the TRT Haber state broadcaster reported.
The accounts represented more than half of the 6,644 accounts restricted during the period. Authorities said the remaining 2,965 accounts were accused of promoting terrorism, spreading disinformation or participating in influence operations targeting Turkey.
The figures were released following coordinated work by the national police’s cybercrime department (SİBER), public prosecutors, Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) and the presidency’s communications directorate (CİB). The government did not identify the account holders, provide examples of the content involved or specify how many of the restrictions were issued under court orders.
It also did not give precise beginning and ending dates for the seven-month period or say whether the affected users had challenged the restrictions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the probes as a Gülenist conspiracy and designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016, intensifying a sweeping crackdown after a coup attempt in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
X accounted for the largest number of blocked accounts, according to the government data, followed by Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify. Authorities did not provide a numerical breakdown for each platform.
Officials said they were also monitoring coordinated posting networks, automated accounts, hashtag campaigns and efforts to manipulate trending-topic lists. They said digital network analysis was being used to identify the origin and spread of coordinated campaigns.
This article is republished from the Stockholm Center for Freedom.