As Turkey mourns the victims of the Istanbul bomb attack, a media freedom expert warned that government restrictions on social media and broadcasters imposed after the blast were not in the public interest.
Government-imposed restrictions on social media and broadcasters following the bomb attack that killed six people in Istanbul on Sunday were contrary to the public interest, a media freedom expert told BIRN.
“In times of crisis, it is crucial to have access to accurate, reliable and verified information. Any attempts at suppressing this flow leads to increased speculation and distrust in society,” said Gurkan Ozturan, coordinator of Media Freedom Rapid Response at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom.
Despite the public need for information, the Turkish authorities gave “a media blackout order, blocking independent journalists’ access to press conferences and throttling bandwidth for social media platforms”, explained Ozturan, who is also one of the authors of Freedom House’s annual ‘Freedom on the Net’ reports.
After Sunday’s deadly blast, the Turkish government immediately imposed a broadcasting ban, prohibiting the use of close-up videos and photos of the blast and its aftermath.
It then imposed restrictions on social media platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Ozturan said that such blackouts leave the public in “darkness”, causing unease, and are a worrying sign for the future.
“The ban on social media after the bomb attack signals darker times for digital freedoms,” Ozturan.
The ban came after Turkey adopted new digital rights legislation which has been described as a ‘censorship law’ by experts, rights groups and journalists.
Critics say that press and internet freedoms have been suspended by the disinformation law, which will increase the authoruties’ control over media and social networks before important elections in 2023.
The aftermath of the bomb attack highlighted some of the contradictions of Turkey’s policy on internet freedom, Ozturan argued.
“The information landscape in Turkey is in such an absurd state that even the head of Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) turned to Twitter to share his message of condolences despite having implemented the bandwidth throttling order only hours before on Sunday, practically blocking millions of people’s access to social media platforms,” he said.
The Turkish authorities claim that the bomb attack was organised by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK and the Syrian Democratic Forces, YPG.
However, both organisations refused the claims.
“We affirm that our forces have nothing to do with the Istanbul bombing, and we reject the allegations accusing our forces of that,” Mazlum Abdi, the general commander of the YPG, wrote on Twitter.
Turkish police said on Tuesday that as well as the suspected bomber, Syrian citizen Alham Albashir, they have arrested 50 more people over their alleged roles in the attack.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Tuesday that 58 of the 81 people who were injured have now been discharged from hospitals.
“Seventeen injured patients are in [ordinary clinics] and six patients are still in intensive care. Our healthcare professionals are doing their best to bring you good news,” Koca said.