By AJ Dellinger Published March 22, 2025 | Comments (4) | People wave flags and chant slogans during a protest in front of the municipality headquarters in support of arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu Chris McGrath/Getty Images Elon Musk purchased Twitter (and then renamed it X) with the promise that it would be a free speech paradise. It turns out in practice, that means you can say your favorite slurs but cant protest government overreach. Following the arrest of the primary political rival of Turkeys President Tayyip Erdoan, demonstrators have taken to the streets and to social media to protest the seemingly politically motivated action. According to Politico, some of those who have taken to speaking out against the government have been suspended on X. Per Politicos reporting, university-associated activist accounts that share protest information including times and locations for students and other activists who might want to participate have been the primary targets of the suspensions. Most of the accounts are described as grassroots activists with relatively small followings, typically in the tens of thousands. In some cases, it seems those accounts have been suspended in Turkeywhere their information is most relevantand not in the rest of the world. One activist, mer Faruk Aslan, created a second account to dodge the local censorship, and claimed that his primary account got suspended after one of his posts exceeded six million views on the platform. Turkeys ruling government, led by Erdoanhas claimed that suspended accounts are associated with inciting hatred. (Its worth noting that the public demonstrations against the Erdoan have taken place the government issuing a multi-day ban on protests.) Turkeys Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya claimed authorities have identified 326 accounts for takedown, including 72 that are believed to be operated outside of Turkey. He also said that 54 suspects have been arrested for their activity on social media. Turkeys crackdown on activists is not necessarily on Musk or X (though we dont know if the company surrendered any user data to the government). But the crackdown on content on platform, the company certainly has a hand in. In fact, its been pretty willing to bend to the will of Erdoans government when asked.Back in 2023, as Turkey was about to have a Presidential election, Erdoan threatened to throttle X if the company didnt comply with government requests to take down posts and accounts that it wanted removed. Musk and X acquiesced, with Musk reasoning, The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want? (The answer to that, if you are a free speech absolutist, is likely the former, refuse to give in to a censorship demand and let the chips fall where they may.) Additionally, X has complied with 86% of Turkeys government requests to take down content in the second half of 2024, per the companys transparency report. The math isnt too hard for Erdoan. Ask and you will likely receive.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Thomas Maxwell Published March 22, 2025 By Matt Novak Published March 21, 2025 By Matt Novak Published March 21, 2025 By Thomas Maxwell Published March 20, 2025 By AJ Dellinger Published March 20, 2025 By AJ Dellinger Published March 20, 2025