Speaking at the "Panel on International Fight against Disinformation on Social Media Platforms" at the Conference Hall of the Directorate of Communications, the Presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun expressed his belief that the truth and those who stand up for it will win the fight against disinformation.
Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun indicated that the panel would address social media platforms and the fight against disinformation, emphasizing the need for an international fight against disinformation, which is a problem of the entire world, all countries, states and governments.
Indicating that Türkiye believes the antidote to disinformation is the truth, Director of Communications Altun said, "We believe that the struggle for truth is not only a matter of Türkiye but of the whole world."
Director of Communications Altun advocated that if there is to be a global struggle for truth, Türkiye has to be the centre of it, and stated that this is not a wish or a goal but a duty, obligation, and responsibility brought by history and global conditions.
"We are faced with unimaginable slander and perception management operations"
Noting that killing, distorting and ignoring the truth has laid the foundation for human tragedies, Director of Communications Altun continued to say:
"Not one of them is an exception. For instance, Türkiye is one of the most decent examples of free and fair elections, democracy and coexistence today. Türkiye ranks first in the world in humanitarian aid. Türkiye plays very critical, significant roles in averting numerous wars and conflicts worldwide. We succeed in these roles under the leadership of our President. Ukraine-Russia War is the most concrete example of this. Türkiye is a country that is simultaneously fighting, in a very effective and productive manner, all terrorist organizations that have troubled humanity, regardless of their name. Again, Türkiye is a country where people of various faiths and cultures coexist peacefully, synagogues are renovated, and churches and mosques are constructed. In this regard, Türkiye serves as a model for the rest of the world, displaying some of the most beautiful examples of coexistence culture."
Pointing out that Türkiye is a country that has taken steps toward space travel and considers progress in science and technology a national cause, Director of Communications Altun said, "Türkiye becomes a stronger, greater, and more prosperous country day by day. However, despite all these facts, we are faced with unimaginable slander and perception management operations against our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Türkiye in the national and global arena. Because, on the one hand, we are also dealing with imperialist mentalities. These imperialist mentalities and structures had engaged in different perception management operations to overthrow the previous governments, who thought of the interests of their own country and nation, using various methods such as coups, and they trampled on the truth. We are aware of the recurrence of this phenomenon and have encountered numerous instances of it.
"This struggle is a form of resistance and the rebirth of the nation."
Director of Communications Altun stated they are faced with the same attempts and malicious attacks today and that the so-called prestigious international media groups openly do not hesitate to be a party to the elections in Türkiye; they publish offensive headlines full of slanders, and continued to say:
"Because our President is fighting to this end and acting in accordance with the truth of the world, region and his country, not with their fabricated realities. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who tries to stand by the oppressed and aggrieved people from Africa to Asia, from the Middle East to the Balkans, will undoubtedly become the target of imperialists, colonialists and the dependency order of the West. There are gangs attempting to operate in various parts of the world by controlling global perception and information centres, attempting to prevent countries from being governed according to their own interests through influence agents in many fields ranging from academia to the media, and there is a Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fighting for the truth against them.
Of course, these global gangs will launch a series of attacks against the one who wages this struggle. We can see this clearly. This is why our nation, which is conscious of these historical and contemporary attacks, has been very openly supporting our President in his struggle from past to present. Because we know very well that this struggle is a struggle for truth. This is a struggle for independence. This is a struggle for sovereignty. This is a struggle for humanity. This is a struggle for dignity. This is a struggle for existence. This is a struggle for reputation; this struggle is a form of resistance, and it is the rebirth of our nation. This struggle is a historical opportunity not only for Türkiye but for all humanity."
"Social media produces systematic, intensive and permanent disinformation"
From a time when conventional media produced less disinformation due to its reputation control systems, we have entered a phase in which social media produces more systematic, intensive and permanent disinformation in a completely uncontrolled and disreputable manner, Director of Communications Altun stated.
Altun also noted that even the disinformation produced by individual users makes social media, which has hundreds of millions of users, the most effective weapon ever, and went on to say:
"It is common knowledge that in addition to individual users, terrorist organizations, political groups, intelligence agencies, and occasionally foreign states employ this effective weapon as a component of systematic psychological warfare. We are aware that the conflict, war, and other human tragedies that the world has experienced over the past century have taken on new dimensions due to the use of social media as a tool to influence minds and as a component of psychological warfare. In the past two decades, we have encountered these at their worst. Moreover, we are all aware of how social media is used as an anti-democratic weapon dipped in the sauce of democracy in certain countries, such as the United States during elections. Systematically interfering with the normal, natural democratic processes via social media, particularly by employing foreign elements and foreign apparatuses, is a crime, an anti-democratic attempt, and a type of hybrid coup attempt.
"We have seen how those who conduct political operations attempt to influence the will of the nation"
Director of Communications Altun stated that they are also aware of how those who conduct political operations using algorithms and big data attempt to influence the nation's will and succeed in certain countries, and continued:
For instance, the Twitter Files series, which began after Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, demonstrates how these channels, renowned for their freedom of expression, are manually and algorithmically manipulated. In these revelation files, the entire world has witnessed the use of hashtags to support election campaigns, the active role of bot accounts in this process, and the directives from senior executives and prominent politicians to Twitter management to blacklist certain users. We've seen them, despite efforts of some circles to conceal them. All of this reveals the negative aspects of social media platforms.
In the Twitter Files series, a large number of prominent journalists, politicians, businesspeople, and high-ranking bureaucrats who were either censored or on the side of those who gave orders were mentioned. In addition, these names are filtered by a system that goes beyond algorithms. The revelations included numerous censorship practices, such as visibility reduction, account suspension, automatic censoring and hiding content, and the use of false information content labels, for which Twitter management was directly instructed. We believe that the Twitter revelations are crucial to understanding the true nature of social media. As Presidency’s Directorate of Communications, we have attached great importance to this issue, followed it very closely, and and urged our international counterparts to do the same."
The book "twitterfiles" published
Stating that the Twitter revelations were included in the book "twitterfiles" and that in this book they attempted to demonstrate that social media is not a mediator and social media companies are not neutral platforms, but rather a tool for intervention in politics around the world, Director of Communications Altun said:
"These files, which we've published and compiled in Turkish, disclose the dark side of social media quite clearly. We would like to reiterate to the entire nation that social media is, sadly, a dirty instrument for environmental and political intervention in this regard. We believe that social media should be a platform for democratic communication and interaction. In all of our meetings, we strive to encourage social media companies to act in this manner. However, the struggle for power, particularly in the international arena, is a difficult one. Unfortunately, good intentions and suggestions are often caught in this power struggle. When it comes to a country like Türkiye, which those who hold the Westernist dependency order and those who hold the Western colonial order wish to subdue, these social media platforms unfortunately act against us in the international struggle for power. Türkiye's growth, strengthening, and emergence as a regional and global power are the most significant international developments challenging this international colonial order. Under the leadership of our President, we will continue to work tirelessly in this direction.
We encountered many censorship practices by these social media companies, especially against our President and his supporters. Thanks to these revelations, we learned how the posts of those who support the current government were made invisible and the accounts were closed. As the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, we have taken and will continue to take significant measures to warn and educate the public about these perception management operations and social media disinformation. I wish to make it abundantly clear that we will continue to defend our nation on all platforms against these paramilitary social media gangs. We must do so because we believe in democracy and respect the will of our nation."
"Respect the will of the people"
Stating that Türkiye's upcoming elections are fast approaching, and recent reports that opposition groups built troll networks on social media and coordinated them to carry out election disinformation and provocation shook Türkiye, Director of Communiations Altun said:
"We have read that a network of hundreds of people affiliated with criminal and occasionally terrorist organizations manipulates millions of people and attempts to sway the national will prior to elections. The recent slanders and attacks by the opposition and the presidential candidate against our Directorate, myself and my coworkers are motivated by the fact that the gangs they lead have been exposed. These vigorous efforts to prevent the disclosure of the troll networks they have been working with and feeding for a long time in preparation for the elections, as well as efforts to influence the agenda, have persisted for the last ten days.
However, we and our nation are all too familiar with this mindset, which seeks to protect its own deception by openly targeting me and my coworkers. Since they are trying to cover up their own wrongdoings, their illegitimate and illegal affairs, they attack our President and his colleagues. From this platform, I would like to tell them, their troll gangs, and their mentors openly that You are making futile efforts. Give up this futile effort. Respect the will of the people The nation's word should be the basis for you. Bear in mind that we will not give up our cause because of these accusations, slanders and lies.
"We are faced with organised evil"
Presidency's Director of Communications Altun noted,
"Today, we are faced with an organised evil that attempts to manipulate the public on social media, promotes disinformation virtually every minute to jeopardise election security, establishes offices for it, and pays salaries with money from unknown sources. This evil has reached such a level where they are willing to carry out operations during the election process in collaboration with terrorist organisations. They are attempting to influence the nation's will by using data obtained from various foreign channels and the accounts they enslave.
Of course, social media platforms do not hesitate to serve them in order to spread the evil through their algorithmic operations. They make the disinformation and perception management operations involuntarily visible to individual users, but even legitimate political efforts and rallies organized by the ruling wing are concealed on social media and in the posts. But they will be unsuccessful, as the truth cannot be concealed. This hypocritical attitude has become more prevalent in recent days, particularly in reference to Türkiye and our President. Certainly, as the Directorate of Communications and relevant public institutions, we are keeping a close eye on these illegitimate interventions and illegal formations and are undertaking all required initiatives.
Director of Communications Altun stated that they fight against disinformation nonstop 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He added, "Regardless of what they do, our nation is not tricked by the perception management operations on social media, and we have a deep understanding of their hypocritical attitudes. It is our greatest asset, chance, and fortune. This is a chance not just for Türkiye, but for the entire world . Because as a result of such interventions, efforts to intervene in the political processes of countries through social media platforms have unfortunately yielded many results. Türkiye is a powerful example demonstrating that such initiatives cannot produce results, and in this sense, it demonstrates the national will."
"It is crucial to build international mechanisms to combat disinformation"
Director of Communications Altun noted that the fact that millions of people who believe and trust our President realize that social media platforms have become operational tools and respond negatively to this will ultimately end this hypocrisy, and added:
"Another crucial component of our President's call for a "communication mobilization" is the fight against disinformation. Both as institutions and as individuals, we will continue to oppose social media disinformation with a sense of mobilization. Ultimately, not only Türkiye but the entire world will reap the benefits of this effort. This effort will also benefit the democracies of the world. However, as we have always stated, this fight is one that must be waged not only by Türkiye, but altogether by all countries and societies who are committed to the truth.
Therefore, it is crucial to build international mechanisms to combat disinformation on social media platforms. I must stress that, as Türkiye, we are leading the international community in this fight, and we will continue to do so. We will continue to work with all our might to ensure that the truth prevails over lies, distortions, and disinformation, and I believe with all my heart that the truth will prevail again. Those who stand up for the truth will win at the end of this struggle."
