Turkey fiercely criticized Twitter on Friday for suspending more than 7,000 accounts that had been set up to boost President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying the company was smearing the government and trying to redesign Turkish politics.

 

 

Twitter said it was taking down 7,340 accounts from a network detected early in 2020 that it said was being used to amplify political narratives favorable to Erdogan's ruling AK Party.

 

They were among over 32,000 accounts removed by Twitter which said they were used by China, Russia and Turkey for propaganda, to sow misinformation or attack critics.

 

 

"(This) has demonstrated yet again that Twitter is no mere social media company, but a propaganda machine with certain political and ideological inclinations," said Turkish presidency communications director Fahrettin Altun.

 

 

In a written statement, he added that allegations these were "fake" profiles designed to support the president and were managed by a central authority were untrue.

 

 

He also said documents cited to support Twitter's decision were unscientific, biased and politically motivated, and that it was scandalous to cite a report by individuals "peddling their ideological views".

 

 

Those remarks appeared to refer to a report by the Stanford Internet Observatory, with which Twitter shared its information, that said the network posted some 37 million tweets, promoting the AKP and criticizing Turkey's main opposition parties.

 

 

"We would like to remind the company (Twitter) of the eventual fate of a number of organizations which attempted to take similar steps in the past," Altun said.

 

 

In the past, Turkey has blocked access to online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, YouTube and Twitter.