ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th June, 2020) Twitter has nothing to do with transparency and freedom of expression, being a propaganda tool blocking views deemed as incompatible with those the network itself is promoting, Turkey's communications director said on Friday after more than 7,000 Turkish accounts got removed over "state-linked information operations."
Earlier in the day, Twitter blocked more than 32,000 accounts originating from China, Turkey and Russia for violating the social platform's manipulation policies. Turkey's "fake and compromised accounts" were purportedly being used to "amplify political narratives favorable" to the ruling Justice and Development Party and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"This arbitrary act [of removing a network of accounts], hidden behind the smokescreen of transparency and freedom of expression, has demonstrated yet again that Twitter is no mere social media company, but a propaganda machine with certain political and ideological inclinations," Fahrettin Altun said in a statement.
According to the official, claims that the blocked accounts were fake profiles designed to support Erdogan and were managed by a central authority are "untrue."
"We would like to remind this company of the eventual fate of a number of organizations, which attempted to take similar steps in the past," Altun added, stressing that Turkey "will under no circumstances tolerate any form of forgery, manipulation or disinformation, and it will continue to work to promote the truth" around the world.
In March 2014, Turkey briefly blocked Twitter and YouTube for posting materials linked to a corruption scandal involving high-ranking officials. The country soon lifted the ban after the Constitutional Court ruled the move illegal.
In addition, Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey for 2.5 years after the user-maintained website refused to remove articles that accused the Turkish government of funding and supporting terrorist organizations. The ban was scrapped in January 2020 in line with a court ruling.
