Turkey Blocks Journalist’s X Account After Posts Criticising President’s Son

November 04, 2025 – Turkey – 

Turkish authorities have blocked the social-media account of journalist Serdar Akinan on the platform X after he published posts alleging wrongdoing by a youth foundation led by Burak Erdoğan, son of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Akinan’s account was suspended under a court order citing “national-security” grounds, following his reports on the foundation’s financial links and public-contracting activities.

The decision, dated November 4, came after Akinan posted documentation suggesting the youth foundation had benefited from government-linked tenders and lacked transparency in its operations. Local media lawyers say the blocking order lacked visible due-process disclosures and that the “legal demand” which triggered the suspension was not publicly published. Akinan told colleagues he received no direct warning before the suspension, and access was denied to his followers in Turkey, though the page remained visible abroad.

Press-freedom advocates view this action as part of a broader pattern in which Turkey uses digital control and regulatory pressure to limit critical journalism. According to digital-rights organisations, Turkey has increasingly deployed account-blocking orders, takedowns, and platform-compliance demands in recent years, particularly for journalists who focus on corruption, state-linked business, and elite networks.

X representatives confirmed the company received a court order requiring the “withholding” of the account for users in Turkey, but said they were reviewing whether the request complied with their global free-expression principles. The company’s statement noted that although legal in Turkey, such orders raise questions around the transparency and proportionality of digital censorship.

Akinan’s reporting had also raised concerns among other media outlets for its proximity to state-linked contracts and for revealing documents. His suspension is now being cited by media-law organisations as a warning sign: if independent journalists are subject to platform bans for reporting on the president’s family, many fear self-censorship will accelerate. The blocked account has triggered calls for reform of Turkey’s media-platform laws, greater platform-transparency, and safeguarding of investigative press work against politically motivated digital suppression.

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Turkey blocks journalist’s X account after posts targeting foundation led by Erdoğan’s son