{"id":12350,"date":"2022-07-14T06:58:06","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T06:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/?p=12350"},"modified":"2022-08-17T23:31:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T23:31:55","slug":"facebooks-decision-to-silence-its-enemy-in-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/facebooks-decision-to-silence-its-enemy-in-turkey","title":{"rendered":"Facebook&#8217;s Decision to Silence Its Enemy in Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_43 counter-flat ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69fc297da9961\" class=\"cssicon\"><span style=\"display: flex;align-items: center;width: 35px;height: 30px;justify-content: center;direction:ltr;\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/label><label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69fc297da9961\"  class=\"cssiconcheckbox\">1<\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69fc297da9961\" ><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/facebooks-decision-to-silence-its-enemy-in-turkey\/#Facebooks_Decision_to_Silence_Its_Enemy_in_Turkey\" title=\"Facebook&#8217;s Decision to Silence Its Enemy in Turkey\">Facebook&#8217;s Decision to Silence Its Enemy in Turkey<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/facebooks-decision-to-silence-its-enemy-in-turkey\/#Facebooks_censorship_of_YPG_group_in_Turkey\" title=\"Facebook&#8217;s censorship of YPG group in Turkey\">Facebook&#8217;s censorship of YPG group in Turkey<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/facebooks-decision-to-silence-its-enemy-in-turkey\/#Its_response_to_censorship_requests_from_governments\" title=\"Its response to censorship requests from governments\">Its response to censorship requests from governments<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/facebooks-decision-to-silence-its-enemy-in-turkey\/#Its_response_to_YPGs_criticism\" title=\"Its response to YPG&#8217;s criticism\">Its response to YPG&#8217;s criticism<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Facebooks_Decision_to_Silence_Its_Enemy_in_Turkey\"><\/span>Facebook&#8217;s Decision to Silence Its Enemy in Turkey<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/KYvJ6NX.jpg\" alt=\"how facebook business silenced enemy turkey\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We have seen numerous articles on Facebook&#8217;s censorship of YPG groups in Syria and Iraq. We have also seen how Facebook&#8217;s response to censorship requests by governments and the criticisms of the YPG group have been characterized as a company that values business over human rights. So, what is the truth behind Facebook&#8217;s decision to silence its enemy in Turkey? Let&#8217;s take a look at the email threads from last summer and the recent YPG censorship request to explain what went down.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Facebooks_censorship_of_YPG_group_in_Turkey\"><\/span>Facebook&#8217;s censorship of YPG group in Turkey<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The YPG group is banned in Turkey, and the Turkish government is upset. Facebook executives approved a page for the YPG group in Syria, but the Turkish government is blocking its updates. The censorship is a sign of government repression, and it&#8217;s not just Turkey&#8217;s government that&#8217;s upset. The YPG has been branded a terrorist group by the Turkish state.<\/p>\n<p>The Turkish government also retaliated against journalists who had criticized the war in Syria and mentioned the Kurdish identity. As of March 20, the Journalists Union of Turkey reported 61 imprisoned journalists. In the case of the Facebook user Ahmet Altan, who was arrested in Turkey for posting satirical remarks about the military incursion into Afrin, he was sentenced to pretrial detention. He was later released under judicial supervision.<\/p>\n<p>The YPG group in Turkey has repeatedly criticized Facebook&#8217;s censorship of its content. The YPG published graphic images of dead and wounded fighters, but Facebook&#8217;s censorship policy is a rebuke of democracy. The YPG group is fighting terrorism in Turkey, but it is not a terrorist group. The Facebook censorship of its pages and content is a direct response to the group&#8217;s actions.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Its_response_to_censorship_requests_from_governments\"><\/span>Its response to censorship requests from governments<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Facebook&#8217;s internal emails reveal how the company responded to censorship requests from countries that have a common enemy with its stance on the Middle East conflict. As the Turkish government&#8217;s military offensive against Kurdish minority in Syria continues, Facebook executives faced a political dilemma. The Turkish government wanted Facebook to censor posts by the People&#8217;s Protection Units (YPG), a mostly Kurdish militia group. But blocking those posts would put the YPG out of business for Facebook, and the company risked losing its Turkish users.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook&#8217;s response to censorship requests came after Turkey&#8217;s government issued a legal order directing it to restrict the content of its Turkish page. But this move could have been disastrous for Facebook&#8217;s bottom line. Despite a 34% increase in its Europe revenue per user this year, Facebook was forced to geo-block the page. If it had not responded in this way, the Turkish government would have shut down Facebook and its services.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Its_response_to_YPGs_criticism\"><\/span>Its response to YPG&#8217;s criticism<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When the Turkish government began its offensive against Kurdish minority groups in Syria, Facebook executives faced a political quandary. The Turkish government wanted Facebook to censor posts made by the People&#8217;s Protection Units, a primarily Kurdish militia group. The company has long ignored such requests, but faced the risk of losing access to Turkish users if it went along. In response, Facebook silenced YPG. The decision reflects the company&#8217;s internal struggles and the public&#8217;s frustration over the recent developments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook&#8217;s Decision to Silence Its Enemy in Turkey We have seen numerous articles on Facebook&#8217;s censorship of YPG groups in Syria and Iraq. We have also seen how Facebook&#8217;s response to censorship requests by governments and the criticisms of the YPG group have been characterized as a company that values business over human rights. So, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v21.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Facebook&#039;s Decision to Silence Its Enemy in Turkey - Zeru<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/facebooks-decision-to-silence-its-enemy-in-turkey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facebook&#039;s Decision to Silence Its Enemy in Turkey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Facebook&#8217;s Decision to Silence Its Enemy in Turkey We have seen numerous articles on Facebook&#8217;s censorship of YPG groups in Syria and Iraq. 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