As Turkish President Erdogan is lagging behind in the polls, he has asked Twitter and Elon Musk to “restrict access” to certain content in Turkey, one day before the Turkish Federal Election. Both Musk and Twitter have received strong criticism over the issue, particularly with Musk’s acclaimed support for free speech. Musk took to twitter to defend the issue, stating if he hadn’t of allowed the restrictions, twitter would have been “throttled in its entirety”.
Did your brain fall out of your head, Yglesias? The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2023
President Erdogan has been consistently lagging behind his primary political opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu in polls. If he is defeated, it would end Erdogan’s nearly 20 year long presidency, and undoubtedly shake up regional politics.
In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today.
— Twitter Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) May 13, 2023