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- Twitter restricts unspecified content before the presidential elections in Turkey.
- Musk has agreed to 30% more government requests than his predecessor.
- Musk's SpaceX helped the Turkish government launch a satellite in November.
Elon Musk’s reputation as an absolutist of free speech took another blow on Saturday when Twitter, siding with the Turkish Government and censoring the accounts of political opposition ahead of a contentious electoral contest, sided against him.
Twitter's Global Government Affairs account posted an announcement on Friday night, around 6 am in Turkey, stating that the platform will "restrict the access to certain content in Turkey", in response to requests from the Turkish government.
The Washington Post reports that the presidential election in Turkey will be held on May 14.
Adam Schiff, a Californian Representative, tweeted that "the day before a crucial election in Turkey, Twitter seems to be giving in to the demands made by the autocratic leader of the country, Erdogan, who is censoring the platform." It is difficult to ignore the fact that Twitter's lack of transparency has led us to believe that Musk's promise of freedom of speech has once again been broken.
Insider's comment to Schiff's office was not immediately responded.
Targeted Turkish dissidents
Details of the legal request, and which accounts were targeted, were not disclosed. Tugrulcan Emas, a researcher at Indiana University Bloomington who focuses on social media, said to Insider that he had tracked a few accounts which posted content about the Turkish elections, but they were suspended.
Elmas reports that the Turkish government had traditionally restricted accounts with ties to the political opposition, or whistleblowers, who were critical of President Recep T. Erdogan, the right-wing leader in the country.
One account was restricted, the one of Kurdish Muhammed Yakut. Turkish Minute reported that Yakut shared information on Erdogan's government dealings, and claimed the Turkish leader was involved in the disappearance his son-in law.
Turkish Minute reported that Yakut also suggested sharing background information about a failed coup attempt in 2016 in the country before the election, insinuating Erdogan and his cronies were behind the entire thing.
Elmas pointed out that while Yakut, and other political opposition, were censored on Twitter, a troll account impersonating Ali Yesildag, a whistleblower, was not taken down despite the fact that impersonation is against Twitter's Terms of Service and the account posted fake nude pictures of Turkish politicians who oppose Erdogan.
Elmas hypothesized that the troll account's non-banning is a reason to suspect the account could be linked to the Turkish Government as a propaganda instrument, used to discredit Erdogan’s opponents by portraying them as blackmailing one another.
Elmas stated that "the fact that the government did not censor this report is evidence of a fake flag operation."
Elmas told Insider the restricted accounts on social media sites would likely not affect the outcome of the election, as the targeted users can still upload content to YouTube or Facebook or use VPNs to avoid IP-address based bans.
Elmas stated, "I believe Twitter is following this path because it was demanded by the government." Elmas said, "I also believe they think these bans are easily circumvented so blocking accounts won't have any impact, so they just say yes to government."
According to a report from the technology magazine Rest of World, since Musk took over Twitter last year, it has complied more than 80% of requests by governments for censorship and surveillance of its users. This is up from about 50% compliance before his leadership.
Musk's defensive response
Musk's decision was seized upon by observers, who labelled him a "free-speech opportunist". This news was met with a flurry of tweets from Twitter users, calling Musk an "opportunist for free speech" as a result.
Musk, who has marketed the social platform like a public square, was not pleased with the criticism.
Matt Yglesias (a Bloomberg columnist) tweeted on Saturday that "The Turkish Government asked Twitter to censor their opponents right before an elections and @elonmusk complied." Musk responded to defend his decision.
"Did you lose your mind, Yglesias?" Musk responded. Musk replied. Which one would you prefer?
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, commented on the thread. He said: "What Wikipedia has done: We stood up for our principles, and we fought until the Supreme Court of Turkey, and won. It is important to view freedom of speech as a fundamental principle, not a slogan.
Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey between 2017 and 2020 because of an article on state-sponsored terror, which described the country as a sponsor for the Islamic State terrorist group and Al-Qaeda. The Turkish block on Wikipedia was lifted by the highest court in the country after a long legal battle that escalated.
Musk's defenders were quick to call Wales' comparison of Twitter to Wikipedia a false analogy because Twitter is for-profit, while Wikipedia is nonprofit. Wales replied: "If Elon now says "We don't really care about freedom of speech if it interferes in making money", then he ought to just say that."
Elon Erdogan
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Elmas, who noted that news coverage about their interactions had shown an increase in communication between Erdogan, Musk and Twitter, is the reason for Twitter's decision.
Forbes reported that the pair met for the first time in 2017. They will then meet again in 2021 to talk about lithium batteries and satellite launches. In that year, SpaceX signed a deal with Turkey to launch Turksat 6A, a domestically-produced communications satellite. Forbes reported that Musk and Erdogan will shake hands in 2022 at the World Cup.
Turkiye Newspaper, a local newspaper, reported that Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was used to launch Turkey's national and domestic observation satellite into space last month. Space.com reported that while the financial details of the deal are still unclear, a Falcon 9 rocket cost approximately $62 million.
Musk and Erdogan also spoke in February after Turkey refused Musk's request to activate Starlink in the region following a deadly earthquake that ravaged the country, killing more than 40,000. Insider reported that the country's communication systems had not been disrupted enough to require the Starlink system.
Scientific American reported that Twitter was blocked for 12 hours in the area following the earthquake. This was due to Turkey's concern about disinformation spreading on the platform. The initial response to the emergency may have been hampered by the outage.
Users on Twitter, some in a sarcastic tone, circulated news about Musk's Turkish business dealings. "I'm certain this is just a coincident," they wrote. Others, however, argued that Musk's ties to the authoritarian nation were proof that the self-described free speech icon was "not cheap, but for sale."
Insider's request for comments to Musk, SpaceX and Twitter representatives did not receive a response immediately.
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By: ktangalakislippert@insider.com (Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert)
Title: ‘Free speech opportunist’ Elon Musk caved to government pressure to censor tweets ahead of the Turkish election. Critics argue SpaceX dealings with the country’s right-wing leader may have caused the reversal.
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/free-speech-censorship-elon-musk-throttled-tweets-turkey-presidential-election-2023-5
Published Date: Sun, 14 May 2023 05:10:51 +0000
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