National Interest vs. Online Freedom of Expression: The Discussions of Internet Users on the Blocking of ‘Wikipedia’ in Turkey

Year 2020, , 10 - 22, 06.04.2020

Ruhdan Uzun

https://doi.org/10.32739/etkilesim.2020.5.82

Abstract

In 2017, The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) blocked online access to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia in Turkey due to its articles and comments that mention Turkey as a country that seems to be in coordination and aligned with various terrorist groups. Since then, the blocking has been criticized by Turkish people as a violation of the right of access to knowledge and a crackdown on online freedom of expression. However, freedom of expression becomes controversial when expression appears to threaten some important national interests. This paper aims at providing a framework for resolving questions about the recognition of online information rights, by finding out the rationale behind online users’ arguments on freedom of expression. In this article, online users’ comments on the blocking of Wikipedia in Turkey are analyzed. The findings reveal that most of the users disapprove the blocking. Both opponents and approvers discussed the issue by putting a broad framework and they put forward very different arguments to justify their attitude.

Keywords

online freedom of expression, disputed rights, users’ comments, censorship

References

• Carr, M. (2013). “Internet Freedom, Human Rights and Power”. Australian Journal of International Affairs. 67(5). 621-637.
• Choldin, M. T. (1996). “Beginning a Conversation on Access to Information and Freedom of Expression”. IFLA Journal. 22(4). 280-284.
• Dutton, W. H., Dopatka, A., Hills, M., Law, G., Nash, V. (2010). “Freedom of Connection-Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet”. http://www.unesco.org/new/ƪleadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/wsis_igf5_executive_summary_freedom_expression.pdf.
• Eide, E., Kjølstad, M., Naper, A. (2013). “After the 22 July Terror in Norway”. Nordic Journal of Migration Research. 3(4). 2013. 187-196.
• Emerson, T. I. (1962). “Toward a General Theory of the First Amendment”. Yale Lj.
• Hamilton, S. and Ole Pors, N. (2003). “Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression: The Internet as a Tool for Global Social Inclusion”./Library Management. 24(8/9). 407-416.
• Krippendorƨ, K. (1980). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
• MacKinnon, R., Hickok, E., Bar, A., Lim, H. I. (2015). Fostering Freedom Online: The Role of Internet Intermediaries. UNESCO Publishing.
• Madden, A., Ruthven I., McMenemy D. (2013). “A Classiƪcation Scheme for Content Analyses of Youtube Video Comments”. Journal of Documentation. 69(5). 693-714.
• United Nations. (n.d). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights . www.un.org/en/documents/udhr.
• Wicker, S. B. and Santoso, S. M. (2013). “Access to the Internet is a Human Right”.Communications of the ACM. 56(6). 43-46.
• Wikimedia Foundation. (n.d). Blog Wikimedia. https://blog.wikimedia.org