X(Twitter) Shadow Bans Turkish Presidential Candidate
8 days ago
- #Shadow Banning
- #Turkey
- X (Twitter) restricted the account of Turkish opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has 9.7M followers, in Turkey.
- İmamoğlu's new X account, 'Cumhurbaşkanlığı Aday Ofisi,' gained only 318K followers despite promotion by opposition leaders, suggesting shadow banning.
- Many users reported not seeing İmamoğlu's posts on their timelines, despite following and engaging with his account.
- A poll revealed 56% of voters never see İmamoğlu's posts, 34% see them rarely, indicating possible algorithmic suppression.
- Elon Musk and X did not defend free speech, citing a court order as the reason for restrictions.
- The Turkish government is suspected of influencing X to suppress İmamoğlu's presence on the platform.