Facebook parent company Meta has been fined a “substantial” amount for not complying with orders from Turkish authorities to limit content, a spokesperson told POLITICO.
The Turkish government has been ordering the suspension of social media accounts sharing information on the widespread protests that have followed the arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
“We pushed back on requests from the Turkish government to restrict content that is clearly in the public interest, and have been fined by them as a consequence,” the spokesperson said, declining to identify the scale of the fine.
“Government requests to restrict speech online alongside threats to shut down online services are severe and have a chilling effect on people’s ability to express themselves,” the spokesperson said.
Elon Musk’s social media platform X has suspended several accounts belonging to journalists and opposition figures since the outbreak of the civil unrest, despite the tech billionaire’s claim to be a “free speech absolutist.”
In 2024 Meta received 5,677 requests from Turkish authorities to remove content, 4,199 of which came from Turkey’s communications authority, Meta’s transparency report said.
Meta heeded 40 percent of the requests, the report said.
Musk’s X, which has largely complied with the orders, has said it is fighting Turkish government orders to protect free speech.
That includes appealing to Turkey’s Constitutional Court over an order to block 126 accounts. However, the order in question predates the current wave of protests by several weeks, according to a document seen by POLITICO.
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