The 2022 annual report by EngelliWeb, an internet censorship watchdog working within the Turkey-based Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) has shed light on a significant surge in internet censorship in Turkey, a situation exacerbated by the ineffectiveness of the country’s Constitutional Court in upholding the freedom of expression.
Turkish courts blocked access to at least 137,717 websites, 150,000 URLs, and untold thousands of social media accounts and posts. Turkey’s Information and Communications Technologies Authority (BTK) issued 79 percent of the orders to block access, often at the request of various governmental bodies.
News websites critical of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government faced the highest proportion of access blocks in 2022. Despite a ruling from the Constitutional Court that such blocks violated the freedom of expression, the Turkish parliament disregarded the decision.
The report also criticised the Constitutional Court for its “arbitrariness,” stating that it was “buried in darkness and rendered powerless” in the face of severe violations of the freedom of expression.
The wider crackdown of the Turkish authorities on critical news stories has led to further accusations of curtailed freedom of expression. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 90 percent of the national media in Turkey is now under government control.
