Turkish government asks X to remove posts about mining disaster

Duvar English

Social media giant X’s Global Government Affairs team on March 1 shared that they won a lawsuit against Turkish government regarding its request to ban 45 tweets on the mining disaster in Erzincan province.

Ankara 8th Criminal Court of Peace issued a "content removal" order for 45 tweets after the mine disaster that trapped nine workers and caused cyanide exposure on Feb. 13. Three of the posts were belong to the far-right Victory Party chair Ümit Özdağ.

X appealed this decision to the Ankara 9th Criminal Court of Peace and the higher court cancelled the content removal decision, ruling that the posts should be protected under “freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”

“X regularly files legal challenges around the world to defend our users from Government censorship. This week, we secured an important ruling in Turkey that reaffirmed the importance of these challenges,” the company stated in the post sharing the court’s decision.

The social media giant stated, “The government had threatened X with substantial fines if we did not comply with orders to remove the content.”

“This outcome reaffirms X's commitment to protecting its users' rights to free speech globally and we will continue to use all legal avenues available to defend our users’ speech,” the X noted.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, has previously met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on several occasions, attempting to maintain a somewhat cordial relationship with the government.

During periods of political unrest, the government frequently attempts to block access to social media posts or even entire social media platforms.