İFÖD · Research report
Digital
Obedience
Regime
Social Media Platforms and the Illusion of Transparency in Türkiye
Freedom of Expression Associationİfade Özgürlüğü Derneği
About this report¶
Once a liberating frontier, the Internet in Türkiye has been re-engineered into a mechanism of centralised control. Where does this leave global giants like Facebook, X, YouTube, and TikTok? In this incisive study, Yaman Akdeniz and Ozan Güven of the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) expose the inner workings of the new legal order under Law No. 5651. They document a disturbing shift: platforms that ostensibly established local offices to “protect user rights” have, in reality, become “compliant apparatuses” of the state, bowing to censorship demands and prioritising profit over fundamental freedoms.
This work goes beyond legal theory, subjecting the platforms’ own “transparency reports” to forensic scrutiny. It ruthlessly exposes the gap between corporate PR and technical reality. Which platforms claim “zero requests” while quietly implementing censorship? Who continues to enforce laws effectively annulled by the Constitutional Court? And who has surrendered on user data privacy? Through rigorous analysis, the authors demonstrate how promised transparency has devolved into systematic “data obscuration.”
Digital Obedience Regime is essential reading for anyone tracking the erosion of Türkiye’s digital civic space and the perilous accommodation between Big Tech and authoritarian governance. Underpinned by EngelliWeb’s extensive data, and set against the grim backdrop of over 1.2 million access-blocking decisions, this report sounds a critical alarm for the future of digital rights.