On Saturday, Elon Musk, known as a free speech absolutist, succumbed to government pressure and agreed to censor tweets ahead of the Turkish presidential election. Critics argue that Musk's SpaceX involvement with Turkey's right-wing leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, may have influenced this decision. Under Musk's leadership, Twitter has complied with 30% more government requests for censorship than his predecessor. Some users have accused him of being a "free speech opportunist" in response to the criticism.
The election is set for May 14th and while it might not be seen as politically motivated, Musk's decision could still affect public opinion by censoring accounts belonging to political opponents. The details of the legal request and which specific accounts were targeted have not been made public.
Dr. Tuğrulcan Elmas, a postdoctoral researcher focusing on social media manipulation at Indiana University Bloomington tracked roughly half a dozen accounts related to the Turkish election that had been suspended. Dr.Elmas believes that since targeted users can still post content on platforms like YouTube or Facebook or use VPNs to avoid IP-address-based bans; consequently impacting little on the overall outcome of the elections.
Chief Twit Elon Musk defended his move after receiving backlash from users when Matt Yglesias – an American blogger and journalist – brought attention towards this issue. Although promising transparency by showing 'what the government in Turkey sent us,' he failed even several hours later.
Twitter agreed just one day before Turkey’s controversial presidential election where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces strong challenge from Republican People’s Party candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu.Blocking content in Turkey resulted in widespread condemnation among critics who called it ‘ignorant’ and labeled it ‘disinformation.’
Opposition DEVA party leader Ali Babacan expressed disappointment over this move which was picked up by Netblocks - a company that tracks connectivity across the globe. This comes at a time when Turkish citizens are increasingly relying on Twitter in the aftermath of several deadly earthquakes that have struck the country.