Social media platform X has blocked the account in Turkey of Turkish journalist Metin Cihan after he published reports using official data revealing continued trade between Turkey and Israel despite Ankara’s public stance against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Cihan announced on Saturday that his posts are no longer visible in Turkey and criticized X for complying with the government’s censorship demands.
Cihan’s investigative reporting, based on open-source maritime records, detailed how Turkish ports continued to send shipments to Israel, contradicting official claims of an embargo.
The journalist, who has been a prominent critic of the Turkish government, accused authorities of silencing independent reporting and called on users to follow him on Bluesky, a decentralized social media platform.
After Elon Musk purchased Twitter, which he rebranded as X, the platform started complying with Turkish government censorship requests. Just a day before Cihan’s account was restricted, the platform blocked at least 42 accounts belonging to journalists, activists and media organizations, citing a ruling from an Ankara court that referenced “national security and public order.”
Among those affected are well-known exiled journalists Turhan Bozkurt, Abdullah Bozkurt, Aydoğan Vatandaş and Emre Uslu as well as Bold News and the English-language outlet Politurco. Activists covering human rights violations in Turkey, including lawyers Murat Akkoç and Gökhan Güneş, were also targeted.
The crackdown comes amid mounting criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government for suppressing press freedom. Despite Erdoğan’s vocal condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza, reports, including those by Cihan, have shown that trade between Turkey and Israel remains active, with shipments continuing through alternative routes.
X has faced scrutiny for its actions in Turkey, particularly after appointing a local representative under a controversial social media law that critics say enables government censorship. The company previously complied with requests to restrict accounts and tweets critical of Erdoğan ahead of Turkey’s 2023 general election.
International rights groups, including Freedom House, have ranked Turkey among the worst in Europe for online freedoms, citing extensive government control over digital platforms.
Despite the censorship, Cihan vowed to continue reporting, stating, “Maybe my voice will be heard less, but I will not be silenced.”