A significant number of people in Turkey are in favor of bans on social media platforms, frequently imposed by the Turkish government, despite accusations of censorship, according to the results of a recent survey.
Conducted by the Ankara-based MetroPoll, the survey showed that 42.6 percent of Turks support bans on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, despite the fact that these apps are widely used in Turkey.
Opponents of social media bans, on the other hand, made up 53 percent of respondents.
The latest “Turkey Pulse” survey was conducted on 1,500 people across 28 provinces between August 10 and 17.
Approval of social media bans was highest among supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), with 62.7 percent of AKP supporters indicating approval of bans on social media sites.
Supporters of the nationalist İYİ (Good) Party, however, expressed the strongest disapproval, with 72.7 percent saying they do not find bans on social media platforms to be right.
Seventy-one percent of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) supporters and 64.3 percent of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) supporters also voiced disapproval of social media bans.
Professor Özer Sencar, the owner and founder of MetroPoll, said on X that there is great benefit in knowing the people of Turkey, especially for politicians, saying that almost half of society supports bans on social media platforms.
It is of great benefit, especially for politicians, to know our people. Nearly half of the society approves of social media bans. pic.twitter.com/tf5pBy5xMu
— Ozer Sencar (@ozersencar1) September 18, 2024
The last time the Turkish government imposed an access ban on a social media platform was in August, when Instagram was blocked for nine days, from August 2 to August 10, affecting millions of users across Turkey.
It was implemented after government officials accused the platform of censoring content related to Palestinian militant group Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
Turkish authorities have temporarily blocked access to other social media sites, including Facebook, X and Wikipedia.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government is regularly accused of muzzling freedom of expression.
Turkey, where internet freedom has steadily declined over the past decade, ranks among the “not free” countries concerning online freedoms, according to a report released by the US-based Freedom House in October.