Extensive regime-critical protests are ongoing, primarily in Turkey's largest city Istanbul, since the popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested on Wednesday.
On Friday evening, the opposition party reported that over 300,000 demonstrators had gathered in Istanbul – and much of the contact between demonstrators takes place via social media platforms.
A majority of the accounts shut down by X belong to "activists with connections to universities", according to Yusuf Can, an analyst at the Wilson Center's Middle East division.
The government and Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya have previously stated that they have discovered 326 accounts on social media platforms that "incite hatred", of which around 70 came from accounts outside Turkey. The authorities have arrested over 50 people suspected of incitement or similar crimes.
Imamoglu is one of the leading opposition politicians and is expected to be nominated as a candidate for the CHP party in the next presidential election. The sitting president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan from AKP, is expected to run for another term.
X owner Elon Musk has previously restricted the use of accounts in Turkey. During the 2023 presidential election, Musk restricted what could be written on X. The explanation then was that the election was between shutting down Twitter (as X was previously known) entirely, or restricting access to certain messages.
X has not commented on the latest reports, according to Politico.
