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Freedom of Expression Association and the Report on Social Media Platforms

The Freedom of Expression Association (“İFÖD”), headquartered in Istanbul, was established in August 2017. The Association focuses on the prevention and elimination of violations of the right to freedom of expression without discrimination based on language, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, political opinion, or other grounds. In this regard, it conducts activities to provide legal assistance to individuals whose right to freedom of expression has been violated or is under threat, to conduct research and training, to foster national and international cooperation, and to strengthen solidarity. In July 2023, İFÖD was accredited to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (“ECOSOC”) and granted special consultative status.

ENGELLİWEB

EngelliWeb was launched in 2008 as a civil society initiative and shared information and statistics with the public regarding websites blocked from access in Türkiye, as well as related court and administrative decisions, until 2017. As a fundamental resource based on concrete data in its field, EngelliWeb is frequently cited by domestic and foreign media organizations, featured in academic articles and parliamentary questions, and its statistics are regularly included in the Turkey section of the US Department of State’s annual “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.” EngelliWeb received the Special Award for Freedom of Thought and Expression from the Turkish Publishers Association in 2015 and the Deutsche Welle Bobs User Award in the Turkish category in 2016.

Since coming under the umbrella of the Freedom of Expression Association, EngelliWeb has pressed on with its mission, publishing regular annual assessments of Internet censorship in Türkiye. This monitoring series began with the release of the EngelliWeb 2018 report in June 2019,i followed by subsequent editions: EngelliWeb 2019 in July 2020,ii EngelliWeb 2020 in August 2021,iii EngelliWeb 2021 in October 2022,iv the 2022 report in July 2023,v the 2023 report in September 2024,vi and finally, the 2024 report in September 2025.vii Expanding its reach beyond national borders, the Association also engaged with international mechanisms in 2024. This included submitting a comprehensive report to the UN Human Rights Committee regarding Türkiye’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”),viii alongside a separate submission for the Universal Periodic Review (“UPR”).ix

İFÖD’s reports command widespread attention across national and international media. They are frequently cited during parliamentary debates on amendments to Law No. 5651 within the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM)x and feature prominently in written parliamentary questions submitted by MPs.xi

The emancipatory promise of the Internet is progressively receding, giving way to a digital order defined by repression, strict surveillance, and punitive control. In Türkiye, this authoritarian pivot is codified most starkly in the access blocking and content removal provisions of Law No. 5651. Covering the period from 2018 to 2024, the Freedom of Expression Association’s EngelliWeb reports document the systematic suppression of free speech and press freedom. By exposing content subjected to arbitrary judicial and administrative interventions, these reports aim to preserve public memory against the tide of censorship.

The latest data from the EngelliWeb project starkly illustrates the magnitude of this censorship. By the end of 2024, the total number of websites and domain names blocked in Türkiye had climbed to 1.264.506. This massive “digital blackout” is the result of 1.078.348 distinct decisions, issued following applications from 852 different institutions.

Crucially, the machinery of censorship has not stopped at websites; as its reach has widened, it now takes direct aim at Social Media Platforms. While platforms ranging from Ekşi Sözlük to Instagram,xii have faced access blocking orders, global giants such as Wattpad,xiii Roblox,xiv and Discordxv have been completely wiped from the digital lives of users in Türkiye through indefinite bans enforced since 2024.

This study, entitled Digital Obedience Regime: Social Media Platforms and the Illusion of Transparency in Türkiye, centres on the precarious position of these platforms within a climate of repression. The legal landscape for platforms in Türkiye was radically reshaped by amendments to Law No. 5651, first via Law No. 7253 in July 2020 and subsequently Law No. 7418 in October 2022.xvi These regulations burdened entities defined as “Social Media Platforms”xvii with critical obligations, including establishing local representation, data localisation, and mandatory transparency reporting.

Against the backdrop of the state’s intensifying censorship, this report questions the policies of foreign-sourced platforms with legal representation in Türkiye, namely YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Dailymotion, Pinterest, and VKontakte alongside the domestic platform, Ekşi Sözlük. Specifically, it examines whether these entities uphold fundamental rights and freedoms, or if they have capitulated to pressures designed to curb freedom of expression and the press.

The study goes beyond checking for formal compliance with legal procedures; it scrutinises whether these platforms actually defend free speech in the face of escalating state censorship. The methodology rests on a comparative analysis of local versus global transparency reports, corporate structure examinations via the Trade Registry Gazette, and field data from the EngelliWeb project.

The Digital Obedience Regime report was authored by Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz (Istanbul Bilgi University, Faculty of Law) and Senior Researcher Ozan Güven. We extend our sincere thanks to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Can Cemgil for his valuable insights and for meticulously reviewing the final manuscript.

  1. Freedom of Expression Association, EngelliWeb 2018: An Analysis Report on Access Blocking to Websites, News and Social Media Content from Turkey, June 2019: https://ifade.org.tr/reports/EngelliWeb_2018_Eng.pdf ↩

  2. Freedom of Expression Association, EngelliWeb 2019: The Invisible Face of the Iceberg, July 2020: https://ifade.org.tr/reports/EngelliWeb_2019_Eng.pdf ↩

  3. Freedom of Expression Association, EngelliWeb 2020: Fahrenheit 5651: The Scorching Effect of Censorship, August 2021: https://ifade.org.tr/reports/EngelliWeb_2020_Eng.pdf ↩

  4. Freedom of Expression Association, EngelliWeb 2021: The Year of the Offended Reputation, Honour and Dignity of High Level Public Personalities, October 2022: https://ifade.org.tr/reports/EngelliWeb_2021_Eng.pdf ↩

  5. Freedom of Expression Association, EngelliWeb 2022: The Constitutional Court in the Shadow of Criminal Judgeships of Peace, July 2023: https://ifade.org.tr/reports/EngelliWeb_2022_Eng.pdf ↩

  6. Freedom of Expression Association, EngelliWeb 2023: The Symbol of Injustice in Turkey: Criminal Judgeships of Peace and Internet Censorship, September 2024: https://ifade.org.tr/reports/EngelliWeb_2023.pdf ↩

  7. Freedom of Expression Association, EngelliWeb 2024: Kafkaesque Censorship in a Digital Cage, September 2025, https://ifade.org.tr/reports/EngelliWeb_2024.pdf ↩

  8. Freedom of Expression Association, Submission to the 142nd Session of the UN Human Rights Committee for Consideration of the State Report of Türkiye, https://ifade.org.tr/reports/IFOD_CCPR_Submission_2024.pdf ↩

  9. Freedom of Expression Association, Submission to the 4th Cycle of the UN Human Rights Council for Consideration of the State Report of Türkiye During the 49th Session (Apr – May 2025), https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/uprweb/downloadfile.aspx?filename=13943&file=EnglishTranslation ↩

  10. See 23.07.2020 TBMM Justice Commission Minutes; 28.07.2020 TBMM Minutes; 11.02.2021 TBMM Minutes; 06.04.2021 TBMM Minutes; 13.10.2021 TBMM Minutes; 10.12.2021 TBMM Minutes; 24.03.2022 TBMM Minutes; 23.03.2023 TBMM Minutes; 06.04.2023 TBMM Minutes; 11.12.2024 TBMM Minutes. ↩

  11. For example, see the written parliamentary question submitted by Gülüstan Kılıç Koçyiğit on 12.08.2024 and no. 6867; the written parliamentary question submitted by Meral Danış Beştaş on 26.09.2023 and no. 2172. ↩

  12. The Instagram platform was blocked from access by a decision of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), which was not shared with the public, citing “catalogue crimes” under Article 8 of Law No. 5651. ↩

  13. Wattpad was blocked from access by the decision of the Ankara 10th Criminal Judgeship of Peace on 12.07.2024 (decision no. 2024/6507), upon the request of the Ministry of Family and Social Services. ↩

  14. Roblox was blocked from access within the scope of Article 8/A by the decision of the Adana 6th Criminal Judgeship of Peace on 07.08.2024 (decision no. 2024/5282), on the grounds of “protecting national security and public order.” ↩

  15. Discord was blocked from access from Türkiye indefinitely by the decision of the Ankara 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace on 09.10.2024 (decision no. 2024/12907). ↩

  16. Official Gazette, 31.07.2020, No. 31202. ↩

  17. Law No. 5651, Article 2 (s) ↩