Turkey: Police investigate 12 ‘provocative’ social media accounts over coal mine explosion

Turkish police started an investigation on 12 “provocative” social media accounts which gave “false information” about a coal mine explosion in Turkey’s northern Black Sea region, just a day after a controversial bill was accepted in the national assembly which critics say will be used for a clampdown on social media. 

"12 social media accounts who incited the public to hatred and hostility and made provocative posts were identified and action was taken against them," the general directorate of security said on Twitter without identifying the accounts.

“Police conduct 24/7 virtual patrols with the authority given by law,” the police statement said. 

The Turkish national assembly on early Friday adopted a new media law that criminalizes the spread of “fake” news online, amid heavy criticism for creating a censorship mechanism over dissidents.

The controversial law proposed by President Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its far-right ally, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) introduces prison sentences up to three years for “publicly disseminated false information.”

The legislation which was seen as a move of the government to further tighten its grip on dissidents, ahead of next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections that Erdogan suffers a decline in his public popularity due to economic woes in the country, also prompted reaction from international media organizations and Western countries.