The Constitutional Court in the Shadow of Criminal Judgeships of Peace
November 2023 – The EngelliWeb 2022 report, as a continuation of the 2018-2021 EngelliWeb reports, is entitled The Constitutional Court in the Shadow of Criminal Judgeships of Peace, reports that thousands of news articles and other content of public interest were blocked, removed from publication, censored and deleted from the archives as a result of the “personal rights violations” decisions.
Protecting Freedom of Expression by Supporting ECtHR Implementation
September, 2023 – We are thrilled to announce our cooperation with the European Implementation Network (EIN) in their new project focused on safeguarding freedom of expression in the Council of Europe member States. As a participant to this project, we are dedicated to promoting this fundamental right and the effective implementation of the relevant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as to advocating for reforms aimed at effectively protecting free speech in Türkiye.
The Year of the Offended Reputation, Honour and Dignity of High Level Public Personalities
December, 2021 – The EngelliWeb 2021 Report is a continuation of the EngelliWeb 2018, 2019 and 2020 reports and is entitled The Year of the Offended Reputation, Honour, and Dignity of High Level Public Personalities. The report will reveal that thousands of news articles and other content of public interest are censored and thereby destroyed through access-blocking and removing sanctions as a result of increasing number of decisions finding “violations of personal rights” high level public personalities. The 2021 EngelliWeb Report includes an overview of and considerations on increasing Internet censorship and access blocking practices in Türkiye by the end of 2021.
Fahrenheit 5651: The Scorching Effect of Censorship
October, 2021 – The 2020 EngelliWeb Report is named Fahrenheit 5651: The Scorching Effect of Censorship, referring to Ray Bradbury’s famous novel Fahrenheit 451, which was describing an oppressive, authoritarian, and dystopian society in which books are burned. This report focuses on the burning and destructive effect of the amendments made to the Law No. 5651 as a result of increasing pressure especially in 2020 and during the COVID-19 pandemic and Internet censorship practices, which have been increasing gradually along with these amendments.
TWITTER BECOMES LATEST COMPANY TO COMPLY WITH REPRESSIVE SOCIAL MEDIA LAW
March, 2021 – ARTICLE 19 and İFÖD are extremely disappointed by Twitter’s decision to establish a legal entity in Turkey in compliance with the country’s repressive social media legislation. The decision, which follows those by YouTube, TikTok and Facebook, means Turkish social media users’ freedom of expression is under even more severe threat, with companies essentially making themselves an instrument of state censorship.
TikTok’s compliance with social media law enables expansion of censorship regime
January, 2021 – TikTok’s decision to comply with Turkey’s new repressive laws on social media seriously threatens free speech on its platform and enables the Turkish government to expand its censorship regime, ARTICLE 19 and İFÖD (İfade Özgürlüğü Derneği based in Turkey) said today. The decision, announced today, follows a similar decision by YouTube in December, in spite of calls by civil society not to appoint a local representative.
YouTube Precedent Threatens Free Expression
December 2020 – YouTube announced on December 16, 2020 that it will appoint a local representative in Turkey to comply with the country’s recently amended internet law, making it much more susceptible to content removal and take-down requests by the Turkish authorities, ARTICLE 19, Human Rights Watch, and İFÖD said today. Such a move will inevitably lead to an increase in arbitrary censorship, compromise people’s privacy and right of access to information, and could implicate YouTube in human rights violations.
EngelliWeb 2019: An Iceberg of Unseen Internet Censorship in Turkey
August 2020 – The 2019 EngelliWeb Report of the Freedom of Expression Association (“İFÖD”) includes overview of and considerations on increasing Internet censorship and access blocking practices by the end of 2019 in Turkey.
According to the EngelliWeb 2019 report access to 408.494 websites was blocked from Turkey by the end of 2019.
EngelliWeb 2018
July 2019 – The 2018 EngelliWeb Report of the Freedom of Expression Association (“İFÖD”) includes overview of and considerations on increasing Internet censorship and access blocking practices by the end of 2018 in Turkey.
According to the EngelliWeb 2018 report access to 245.825 websites was blocked from Turkey by the end of 2018.