Twitter under fire for perceived censorship ahead of election in Turkey

Twitter is facing criticism for restricting content in Turkey ahead of Sunday’s election.

“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,” the company’s Global Government Affairs account tweeted in both English and Turkish on Friday night.

“We have informed the account holders of this action in line with our policy,” it added. “This content will remain available in the rest of the world.”

Twitter CEO Elon Musk defended the decision on Saturday, tweeting, “The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?”

Turkish voters will head to the polls on Sunday to determine whether to reelect or oust longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

The Turkish president, who has spent nearly two decades leading the country, is facing a significant challenge from the main opposition candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Recent polling showed Erdogan trailing Kilicdaroglu by two points, according to Politico.

The Turkish government previously blocked access to Twitter for a short period of time in February, in the wake of a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people.