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International Journalists Association (IJA): Policy Report on Platform Authoritarianism

  • Writer: NCCA
    NCCA
  • Nov 4
  • 2 min read

Updated: Nov 6

International Journalists Association (IJA), October 2025

Cover of the International Journalists Association report “Navigating Press Freedom Challenges,” showing shadowed human figures with red-lit mouths against a digital code background, symbolizing algorithmic censorship and silenced voices.

Overview

The International Journalists Association (IJA) released its 2025 Policy Report on Platform Authoritarianism, documenting how digital platforms have become instruments of repression through algorithmic censorship, identity-based bans, and corporate compliance with authoritarian governments.


According to the IJA, what began in Türkiye as an experiment in digital control has evolved into a transnational model of platform authoritarianism. Between 2014 and 2025, opaque algorithms, takedown orders, and profit-driven compliance turned global social-media companies into facilitators of state censorship.



Key Findings

  • 700+ accounts blocked in early 2025 under Turkey’s Internet Law No. 5651 (Art. 8/A).

  • 80% visibility loss for major independent journalists on YouTube after the 2023 elections.

  • 170+ media outlets shut down or seized since 2015.

  • In 2024 alone: 270 000 domains and 17 000 X accounts restricted; by 2025, over 112 000 accounts disappeared via identity-based censorship.

  • Cross-border repression: exiled journalists in Europe and North America silenced through Western corporate compliance with Turkish orders.

  • Platforms such as X, Meta, and YouTube routinely executed Turkish censorship orders within hours, often pre-review.

  • The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), while steps forward, fail to protect journalists from extraterritorial censorship.



Why It Matters

The IJA frames “platform authoritarianism” as a global human-rights crisis—a fusion of state repression and Big Tech complicity that undermines democratic discourse.


Censorship no longer requires police raids or court orders; it now happens invisibly through algorithmic downgrading and mass erasure of digital identities. The report urges governments, corporations, and international bodies to adopt binding safeguards for exiled journalists and digital-rights defenders.



Core Recommendations

  1. Global accountability: classify platform authoritarianism as an international human-rights violation.

  2. Cross-border protection: expand EMFA and DSA to cover extraterritorial censorship and mandate full transparency of foreign orders.

  3. Digital sanctuary: fund EU-based secure infrastructures for exiled journalists.

  4. Corporate liability: impose sanctions on companies that execute unlawful censorship.

  5. UN action: establish a Special Rapporteur on Digital Authoritarianism and a global Digital Safe Haven for independent media.




Tags

Media Freedom · Digital Rights · Big Tech Accountability · Turkey · Hizmet Movement · Transnational Repression · Algorithmic Censorship · Policy Report 2025

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