Former Istanbul mayor İmamoğlu's X account blocked in Turkey
The Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority submitted a request to the criminal court to temporarily block İmamoğlu's account, saying his posts to the public from pre-trial detention "harm public peace," according to a post by X's Global Government Affairs team on the platform on Thursday.
The court then ordered the access block, stating that it was not possible to block individual posts. The block is set to remain in place until the end of İmamoğlu's pre-trial detention.
İmamoğlu's profile, which is not currently run by the former mayor himself, is still accessible from other countries, with the last post shown from Wednesday.
X has lodged an appeal against the decision. "While we have followed Türkiye's order regarding the account, we strongly disagree with the order and are challenging the order in court," the Global Government Affairs team wrote.
The company noted that it could face "severe sanctions, including throttling of the entire platform in Türkiye" if it does not comply with the restrictions during its appeal.
It added: "We believe keeping the platform accessible in Türkiye is vital to supporting freedom of expression and access to information, particularly following natural disasters and other emergencies."
The Istanbul public prosecutor's office has launched an investigation against İmamoğlu based on a post on his X account from April, the communications agency said. The former mayor and rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is accused of publicly inciting a criminal offence.
İmamoğlu's arrest and subsequent detention has plunged Turkey into its worst crisis in years.
The former mayor was taken into custory on March 19 in connection with corruption and terrorism investigations and is being held in pre-trial detention on corruption charges.
Critics accuse the government of using the judiciary to eliminate Erdoğan's main competition.
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in regular mass protests since then.
On Wednesday, large numbers of people demonstrated again in Istanbul, this time in front of the university that revoked İmamoğlu's decree shortly before his arrest.
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