How Erdogan is trying to tame social media

These events show that the words of the Turkish-born journalist in exile are not exaggeration or cheap polemic:

January 26, 2018: 648 people were arrested for criticizing the Turkish military offensive on Afrin on social media.

February 23, 2022: A Turkish journalist has been arrested for allegedly insulting President Erdogan in the form of a pun on Twitter.

February 20, 2023: 78 people have been arrested for publishing provocative reports about the earthquake in Turkey that would have sparked fear and panic.

Not only Turkish journalism is gasping for air, social media is also in the stranglehold of the AKP – the right-wing populist Justice and Development Party, which has been in power since 2002 under Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Because most people distrust the state media, platforms like Twitter, TikTok and Co. developed into a political battlefield. As in the fight against critical media, Erdogan also takes an offensive approach on social media. However, he is not so successful with it.

Get into the stranglehold of the AKP

For journalists critical of the government, arrests and trials are almost part of the occupational hazard. For Erdogan, these are not journalists, but terrorists. Again, this is no exaggeration. Several journalists are on the government’s terror list.

When it comes to intimidation, Erdogan knows no boundaries. In his 20 years in power, he managed to get much of the press under his control. About 90 percent of the media is financially or structurally linked to the ruling AKP party. Freedom of the press and media is guaranteed by law, but is in fact severely restricted. Turkey is one of the countries with the most imprisoned journalists in the world. Turkey ranks 165th out of 180 in the Press Freedom Index.

Several hundred journalists who criticize the government live and work in exile. One of them: regime critic Can Dündar. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison for alleged espionage and support for terrorism. After a two-part prison sentence and a failed assassination attempt, he fled into exile in Germany, where he still fears for his safety. In a new ZDF film, Dündar reports how he is also threatened and hunted abroad.

The same goes for other journalists in exile. According to Reporters Without Borders, media workers of Turkish origin are also “threatened, physically attacked and sentenced to imprisonment in absentia” abroad.

Social media as the fourth estate

However, attempts are not only being made to silence media workers, but also opposition members who are trying to reach voters via social media.

Twitter, Facebook and Co. are an important source of independent information in Turkey. Although these also fall under the government’s arsenal of digital censorship tools, Human Rights Watch reports. These would be used repeatedly to create critical voices from the (digital) world.

Not only that of the opposition, but also that of the people, whom Erdogan describes as an “army of trolls” who work for his rivals and spread lies and misinformation on the internet. “They come up with plans that even the devil would not have thought of,” Erdogan said on state television.

Weapons of censorship include temporarily throttling the internet during times of political unrest, such as the February 2023 earthquake, and blocking opposition websites. The government itself enabled its tools for online censorship in the run-up to the elections – with the so-called anti-disinformation law. In a nutshell, the change in law means that anyone who spreads fake news online could face up to three years in prison. The law obliges platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Co. to disclose user data accused of a criminal offense. Even a like can have consequences.

And who determines which information is incorrect? The Erdogan Regime.

Countermeasures by TikTok and Co.

But not alone. Platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Co. use fact-checkers to specifically check disinformation. During the election campaign, social media pays particular attention to disinformation.

Only one social media giant has published specific measures related to Election Day on Sunday: TikTok. The platform will limit the visibility of users who promise a win too early, as it announced almost a year ago. Also, since August 2022, TikTok has put together a special team of Turkish, Kurdish and Arabic native speakers to detect and remove local stories.

Yet non-governmental organizations expect the government to do everything it can to stay in power. According to Human Rights Watch, the government has already put in place precautions, such as internet restrictions, that kick in when unwanted stories are shared.

But many have probably already made up their mind. The more than five million new voters play a decisive factor. Exactly those people who grew up with the internet, social media and with Erdogan as president. Their votes account for about 10 percent. They don’t know anyone else at the top of Turkey. It remains to be seen if they are on his side, but the forecasts are not.