Turkey slams Twitter for suspending over 7,000 accounts

Turkey slammed Twitter on Friday after the social media company suspended more than 7,000 accounts for alleged support to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"(This) has demonstrated yet again that Twitter is no mere social media company, but a propaganda machine with certain political and ideological inclinations," Turkey Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said in a statement.

Altun's reaction came after Twitter said it was taking down 7,340 accounts from a network which was detected early in 2020 and which it said were being used to amplify political narratives favourable to Turkey's governing AK Party.

It is "obvious" the company was smearing the government and trying to redesign Turkish politics, Altun said.

Controversial report

The allegations that these were "fake" profiles designed to support the president and that they were managed by a central authority were "untrue" he said.

Twitter didn't immediately comment on Turkey's statement. 

Altun said the documents cited to support Twitter's decision were unscientific, biased and politically motivated and that it was scandalous to reference a report by individuals "peddling their ideological views."

The Turkish official was apparently referring to a report by the Stanford Internet Observatory that said the network posted some 37 million tweets, promoting the AK Party and criticising Turkey's main opposition parties.

Twitter promoting outlaws? 

Altun also said Twitter was eager to promote and support propaganda by anti-Turkey entities, including FETO and PKK terror groups.

"We would like to remind this company of the eventual fate of a number of organisations, which attempted to take similar steps in the past," he said.