An İstanbul prosecutor has launched an investigation into journalist Erk Acarer based on content he shared on social media, the T24 news website reported on Thursday.
Acarer is under investigation for allegedly sharing incriminating content on social media, as claimed in a report submitted by the İstanbul Police Department to the prosecutor’s office.
The police took Acarer’s accounts under examination after a social media user accused him of “provoking the public against the state” and requesting that the authorities punish him for it.
Turkey was ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), it has been the largest jailer of journalists for three years running, incarcerating some 200 reporters, media employees and columnists after a failed coup in 2016.