Turkey blocks Sky News journalist’s X account over ‘obscenity’

Turkey has blocked access to the X account of Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford as part of an “obscenity” investigation, amid a broader wave of online censorship targeting LGBTI+ groups, journalists, economists and other users,

Crawford’s account, @AlexCrawfordSky, was among those blocked under a Sep 13 decision by the Bakırköy 4th Criminal Judgeship of Peace. X withheld the account in Turkey on Oct 5, according to the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD).

The widespread restrictions began on Sep 12 with access bans on dozens of accounts belonging to LGBTI+ rights organizations and activists. Those accounts were also blocked on obscenity grounds.

Dozens of rights advocates are also under arrest on the same allegation.

The censorship campaign later expanded to journalists and economists. Numerous accounts that posted about an investment fund crisis late last month were also withheld in Turkey.

İFÖD has itself been affected by the restrictions. The website and X account of its censorship monitoring project, EngelliWeb, were previously blocked. Now the association’s account is also blocked.

Deutsche Welle Türkçe Journalist Alican Uludağ was among those targeted. After his previous account was blocked and withheld in Turkey, a new account he opened under the same username was also blocked and withheld by X.

At least 31 X accounts have also been blocked on grounds of protecting national security and public order. They include accounts belonging to journalist and writer Akın Olgun, former Boğaziçi University faculty member Prof. Tuna Tuğcu and Ayhan Dadaloğlu, who posts about the stock market and economy. (VK)