X restricts access to jailed Istanbul mayor's account

Access to jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's social media account on X has been blocked in Türkiye, officials and reports said on May 8.

A notice on the platform says it was “withheld in TR in response to a legal demand.” X has not publicly commented on the decision.

The Turkish presidency’s Center for Countering Disinformation said the block followed a court ruling based on a prosecutor-led investigation into a post deemed to "incite criminal activity." The chief public prosecutor's office in Istanbul further claimed the post constituted “propaganda for his own criminal organization.”

Authorities argued that since İmamoğlu is in detention, his social media account is not directly managed by him and therefore poses a threat to public order.

İmamoğlu was jailed on March 23, the same day he was nominated as the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate for president. His arrest sparked mass demonstrations across the country calling for his release.

Despite his imprisonment, İmamoğlu had continued to post messages through his X account, with his team also sharing content on Bluesky

In response to the ban, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş repurposed the X account used during his own election campaigns for İmamoğlu’s messages.

"This is not just censorship against one person — it is censorship against the voices of millions," Yavaş said in a statement. "We condemn this unlawfulness in the strongest possible way."

CHP deputy leader Deniz Yavuzyılmaz criticized the decision as a politically motivated move to silence opposition. “If the X platform is free for [President Recep] Tayyip Erdoğan, it cannot be forbidden for his opponent Ekrem İmamoğlu,” he said.

Gökhan Günaydın, one of CHP's parliamentary leaders, accused the authorities of lacking courage. “Tomorrow, the Mayor will have millions of X accounts,” he said.

According to Engelli Web, a digital rights group tracking internet censorship in Türkiye, the restriction follows a legal request submitted by Turkish authorities citing threats to national security and public order.

X routinely complies with legal takedown requests by blocking access to content in specific countries without removing the material globally.