Meta and X: Stop silencing Turkish LGBT+ activists
Campaign content
Update – October 13, 2026: Good news! Meta has restored access to the accounts of various LGBT+ organizations and activists that it had blocked, according to LGBT+ activists on the ground. These accounts should never have been blocked in the first place. There may still be a few exceptions. But X is still blocking these accounts. Keep signing and sharing to tell X: restore them now.
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On 12 September, a Turkish court ordered Meta and X to block the accounts of Kaos GL, SPoD, and dozens of other LGBT+ organizations, parent organizations, journalists and human rights defenders in Türkiye. This digital blackout happened alongside a mass crackdown – more than 110 people now facing legal action, according to Turkish activists, in state raids the government dubbed "Operation My Family Is Safe." Founders and members of some of the targeted organizations are now being prosecuted for founding a “criminal organization,” with “encouraging people to be LGBTI” being cited as part of the case against them. Meta and X complied within days. The blocking order has since expanded to Amnesty International's Turkey office, independent newspapers and legal organizations.
Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk both market Meta and X as defenders of free expression. But when Türkiye's government asked them to silence LGBT+ voices, both companies folded without a fight – no public explanation and no legal pushback. The people who run these platforms willingly help enforce censorship they claim to oppose. A tech company that silently executes autocratic blocking orders becomes an active arm of state repression. If Meta and X yield without resistance in Türkiye, it signals to every authoritarian government globally that silencing human rights defenders takes nothing more than a formal request.
Sign the petition telling Meta and X to restore the blocked accounts. Challenge blocking orders in court instead of simply executing them. Restore the accounts of Kaos GL, SPoD, and the other organizations and individuals targeted, and explain clearly why they were blocked in the first place. And publish a transparency report detailing every request the two companies have received from Türkiye's authorities tied to "Operation My Family Is Safe" – so the public can judge for itself whether these blocks were ever justified.
This campaign is an initiative of The Council for Global Equality, All Out, Outright International, and GLAAD.
Dear Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Kaplan, and Mr. Musk,
On 12 September 2026, a Turkish court ordered Meta and X to block the accounts of dozens of LGBT+ organizations, journalists and human rights defenders in Türkiye. This happened alongside a mass crackdown in which more than 110 people are now facing legal action, according to Turkish activists, in an operation Turkish authorities called "Operation My Family Is Safe." Meta and X complied with the order within days, without a public explanation or any indication that the order was legally challenged. The blocking order has since expanded to include Amnesty International's Turkey office, independent newspapers and legal organizations.
By complying with these orders inside Türkiye without legal challenge or public notice, your platforms have helped enforce state-sponsored censorship against vulnerable communities.
We are writing to ask Meta and X to:
1. Restore the blocked accounts of the dozens of LGBT+ organizations and human rights defenders and other organizations and individuals affected by this order.
2. Publicly explain why each account was blocked and under what legal authority.
3. Commit to challenging government blocking orders that target human rights defenders, journalists and civil society organizations, rather than complying with them automatically.
4. Publish a transparency report detailing every government request Meta and X have received from Türkiye's authorities in connection with this operation.
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