Turkish court blocks access to alternative website of popular social network Ekşi Sözlük

A Turkish court has blocked access to the alternative website of popular social network Ekşi Sözlük on the grounds of national security and protection of public order.

Thursday December 14 2023 07:23 pm

Duvar English

An Ankara court on Dec. 14 once again blocked access to popular social network Ekşi Sözlük.

Ankara 6th Criminal Court of Peace cited “national security and protection of public order” as the reason for the block, freedom of expression organization EngelliWeb reported.

Ekşi Sözlük'ün kullandığı son alan adı da (https://t.co/Kx7nDvDfaD), millî güvenlik ve kamu düzeninin korunması gerekçesiyle, Ankara 6. Sulh Ceza Hakimliğinin 14 Aralık 2023 tarihli ve 2023/13768 sayılı kararıyla erişime engellendi. https://t.co/p03JsfmGH9 pic.twitter.com/JmwpzimIKh
— EngelliWeb (@engelliweb) December 14, 2023

The Ankara 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace had on Feb. 22 ruled for a ban on Ekşi Sözlük's website following an application by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK). The decision was based on posts criticizing the government with regards to its response to the earthquakes.

The network then started using ‘eksisozluk2023.com’ as its new domain, which was also blocked to access on May 13.

The Ankara 6th Criminal Court of Peace on Dec. 14 blocked access to ‘http://eksisozluk1923.com’ domain of the network.

Journalist İsmail Saymaz previously reported that the decision to block access to Ekşi Sözlük was requested by the Turkish Presidency.