Last month, Turkey declared war on disinformation with the
passage of a 40-item law designed to govern how information is shared online.
But by legally enshrining the power to regulate the country’s online discourse,
Turkish authorities have made it even harder for the public to access news and
brought new penalties for merely stating an opinion.
اضافة اعلان
Free speech and the media in Turkey have long been
under assault. Since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development
Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, media ownership has been consolidated by
pro-government entities, which has eliminated editorial independence and led to
the jailing of hundreds of journalists.
In 2021, 241 journalists were prosecuted and 115
were physically attacked, according to the Turkish Journalists’ Association.
Publishing news today essentially requires the government’s permission. Turkey
ranked 149 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2022 World Press
Freedom Index — worse than Somalia, Libya, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
The denial of press freedom has been growing under
Erdogan’s extended presidency, leading to public distrust of the media and
further polarizing society. A recent report by XSIGHTS, a UK-based consultancy,
found that 82 percent of Turks distrust the media, with the highest rate of
suspicion among those aged 18–24. In 2018, 70 percent of Turks viewed the media
as dishonest.
With traditional press muzzled, Turks have turned to
social media for their news. YouTube has become a frontrunner in this trend.
Journalists such as former anchorwoman Nevsin Mengu have left primetime
television to launch their own YouTube channels, with undeniable success.
Mengu’s channel is approaching half a million subscribers, proof that Turkey’s
independent media is not dead, it has just moved.
For AKP, that is a problem. The less restrictive and
more independent nature of the internet is why Erdogan has been actively
searching for ways to regulate it. The disinformation law — dubbed the
“censorship law” by the public — is one elaborate attempt to do so.
For example, Article 34 of Law No. 7418 brings new
restrictions to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google.
Previously, platforms could opt out of sharing IP addresses of its users. Now,
the Turkish government has the power to shut platforms down for withholding
such information. Furthermore, if these platforms fail to comply with
government requests, they will be banned from receiving ad revenue and Turkish
companies advertising with them will be fined.
Then there is the much feared Article 29, which
states that individuals who spread “misleading information” can be jailed for
up to three years.
Sadly, none of this is new; Turkey has already been
jailing journalists and citizens alike for less. In 2014, singer and public figure Attila Tas was
prosecuted and jailed for a tweet that read: “If Edison had seen these days, he
would not have invented the light bulb.”
The government’s immediate policing of news is an attempt to control the narrative. But despite all its efforts, it fails. Ordering a media blackout during times of unrest only leads to public unease and further distrust toward the government.
Tas was poking fun at AKP’s light bulb logo, but his
tweet was used as evidence to link him to the Fetullah Gulen organization,
which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.
More recently, social media phenomenon Pucca
received a five month prison term last year because of a tweet deemed “hateful”
toward men.
Even legitimate news is being restricted and
criminalized. For instance, within hours of Sunday’s deadly terrorist bombing
on Istanbul’s Istiklal street, Turkey’s radio and television regulator issued a
broadcast ban, which was followed by restrictions on social media.
The government’s immediate policing of news is an
attempt to control the narrative. But despite all its efforts, it fails.
Ordering a media blackout during times of unrest only leads to public unease
and further distrust toward the government.
The ongoing erosion of the media landscape over the
last decade has necessitated the birth of independent watchdogs, such as
Dogruluk Payi and Teyit, organizations that have been battling fake news long
before the government.
In a study published last month, Teyit identified
five newspapers that have spread significant amounts of misinformation since
October 2016. Yeni Akit, an Islamic-conservative daily newspaper viewed as a
government mouthpiece, was the most prolific, publishing 117 news items
containing disinformation. Sabah, a pro-AKP newspaper, was second with 73 fake
stories. And yet, while AKP goes after independent bloggers and online
journalists, pro-government news outlets keep churning out falsehoods.
With the June 2023 general election fast
approaching, it is natural that AKP would want a tighter grip on the political
narrative, and this legislation is clearly aimed at keeping AKP in power.
What makes no sense is the failure of Turkey’s
political opposition to stand in their way. Of 134 members in the Republican
People’s Party, the main opposition party in Parliament, only 40 were in
attendance for voting on the disinformation law, while just 15 of the 56
Peoples’ Democratic Party members were
present. If free speech is being targeted by AKP, the country’s opposition
shares in the blame.
After decades of journalists being jailed, news
agencies being shuttered, and free speech being criminalized, AKP’s leaders
seem to think they themselves control the news. If Turkey’s opposition
continues its senseless acquiescence, that headline will essentially write
itself.
Alexandra de Cramer is a journalist based in Istanbul. She reported on the Arab Spring from
Beirut as a Middle East correspondent for Milliyet newspaper. Her work ranges
from current affairs to culture, and has been featured in Monocle, Courier
Magazine, Maison Francaise, and Istanbul Art News. Syndication Bureau.
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