Η Turkey states that it is investigating 10.000 social media users to fight terrorism, but it may also be an excuse to silence free speech.
Turkey has cracked down on activity at a frenzied pace Internet since the summer of the attempted military coup. The country's Ministry of Interior has revealed that its officials are investigating approx 10.000 users of social media as suspects in support of terrorism.
In fact, they report that about 3.710 people have been questioned during the last 6 months and that 1.656 was arrested. The rest were considered innocent but 1.203 of them are still under surveillance.
There is an inevitable question, however: how many of the social network users actually support terrorism? Despite protests, Turkish government is tight-lipped about blocking Facebook, Twitter and other services Internet whenever there is a surge of resentment against President Erdogan.
The country has closed 150 news agencies at this time, and even if some users of these 10.000 conspire against the government, terrorist accusations may be just a pretext to further silence the country.