The Turkish government filed five times more "content removal" requests from the social networking site Twitter than any other country in the world in the second half of 2014, data released by the social network showed today.
The leaked data could reignite fears of a crackdown on freedom of expression on the social networking site in the country of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who says he is determined to stamp out what he considers illegal online activity.
Twitter's report notes that Turkey submitted 477 content removal requests between July and December, an increase of more than 150% compared to the first 6 months of 2014.
Russia and Germany follow, with 91 and 43 requests respectively.
Overall, requests from governments to remove any type of material posted have increased by 40%.
The Turkish government's requests generally focus on charges of violating personal data and defaming citizens or government officials.
Turkey temporarily suspended Twitter and YouTube during the run-up to regional elections in March after the leak of audio recordings purportedly exposing corruption in the president's inner circle. The decision sparked public outcry and international backlash.
"We have appealed over 70% of the Turkish court decisions we have received, winning approximately 5% of the appeals," Twitter explained, adding that the adjudication of another approximately 15% of the objections submitted is pending.
Twitter announced that it complied with 13% of Russia's requests, but stressed that it rejected many requests to "silence" voices critical of the Kremlin.
The requests submitted by Germany, which mainly concerned alleged hate crimes, were granted by 1/3.
Source: imerisia.gr
