Image credit: X.com

Turkey blocked access to Wattpad, a popular Canadian-origin story-writing and reading platform, according to the Freedom of Expression Association’s (İFÖD) EngelliWeb initiative. The initiative reported that access from Turkey to the Canadian story writing and reading website was banned by a decision by the Ankara 10th Penal Court of Peace on July 12. While the exact reasons for the ban have not been disclosed by the authorities, some media outlets recently criticized content on the platform harshly.

Wattpad, founded in Canada’s Toronto in 2006, quickly gained popularity globally as a platform for sharing stories and poems. As of July 17, it has been banned in Türkiye.

Professor Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, a founding member of the Freedom of Expression Association (IFOD), reacted to the block, stating:

“We seem to be the first country in the world to block the famous reading and writing platform Wattpad. It is not yet clear whether Wattpad was blocked to ‘protect children from harmful content’ or to ‘protect public order’ in Turkey, the country of bans,” Akdeniz added.”

The Disabled Web account on X announced that with the decision by Ankara’s 10th Criminal Judgeship of Peace, access to Wattpad has been restricted.

Wattpad, with over 90 million monthly readers worldwide, also has millions of users in Türkiye. Its popularity among youth has turned the ban into a trending topic on social media platform X.

Turkey, where internet freedom has steadily declined over the past decade, ranks among the “not free” countries concerning online freedoms, according to a report released by the US-based nonprofit Freedom House last year. In the past, the country has blocked access to or put restrictions on popular social media platforms. X, YouTube and Facebook.