This story (Story Link) by Arzu Geybullayeva originally appeared on Global Voices (Home Page) on september 24, 2025.
Turkey is celebrating 2025 as the “Year of the Family.” It is against this backdrop that, on September 18, the country's regulatory watchdog Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) issued fines to several large streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video and Mubi for violating family values.
The films that prompted the measure were “Cobalt Blue” (Netflix); “Those About to Die” (Prime Video); “Benedetta” (Mubi); “All of Us Strangers” (Disney+); and “Looking: the Movie” (HBO Max), all of which were removed from streaming platforms in Turkey. RTÜK claims that these films “promote homosexuality,” “disregard family values,” and “conflict with the shared values of society.”
Rights defenders say these measures are part of a broader crackdown on LGBTQ+ visibility in Turkey. Since 2015, Istanbul Pride has been routinely banned, with police dispersing demonstrators using tear gas and detentions. Public officials have increasingly framed LGBTQ+ identities as a “threat to family values,” echoing the language used by RTÜK in its rulings against streaming platforms.
One member of the RTÜK Council, Tuncay Keser, criticised the decision: “While the institution of the family is almost daily undermined in daytime programs for the sake of ratings, RTÜK’s claim of ‘protecting society’ through smart-labeled fictional content on encrypted, subscription-based platforms, which adults access by paying a fee, represents a serious contradiction and double standard.”
This is the not the first time that RTÜK has fined streaming platforms. In 2023, Netflix, Prime, Disney+, Mubi, Bein, and Blu TV were fined for allegedly promoting homosexuality and undermining moral values in Turkey. At the time, Keser told VoA in an interview, “RTÜK has no duty to impose a family model on adults. By setting the agenda through daily political debates, the entire media is being intimidated.”
In 2022, RTÜK launched a probe into Netflix's animated “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” series. “We are determined not to allow content that may negatively impact our children and youth and that disregard our values,” tweeted Ebubekir Sahin, the head of RTÜK at the time. The show reportedly featured LGBTQ+ characters.
In December 2021, another film on Netflix was subject to fines. According to RTÜK, “More the Merrier” was “based on a fiction in which homosexuality, incest relationships, and swinging are intensely experienced.” The platform was ordered to remove the film from streaming in Turkey.
In May that same year, Spotify was ordered to remove “inappropriate content” from its site. By 2022, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against the platform on the grounds that it was featuring playlists “insulting religious values and state officials.” The issue, however, was not so much the songs as the names of the playlists, as Spotify's rules extend rights to users creating playlists without the platform’s approval or oversight.
The power vested in RTÜK to oversee digital streaming platforms stems from a 2018 regulatory change, adopted in 2019, which empowered the agency to impose administrative measures including warnings, suspension of programming, temporary broadcast bans, revocation of broadcasting licenses and, in the most recent case, fines. At the time, prominent Turkish experts on freedom of expression noted the dangers of the decision to extend censorship across all platforms in a country where censorship was already common.
By 2023, RTÜK imposed broadcasting licenses — not typically required of pro-government online outlets — upon the digital media platforms of DW, Euronews and VoA; when they refused to comply, their platforms were blocked in Turkey. One organisation contested RTÜK's broad powers regarding licensing, but lost the case on the grounds that such powers did not allegedly constitute a restriction on freedom of the media. By 2024, RTÜK announced that programs on YouTube which produce news must also obtain broadcasting licenses.
RTÜK’s actions also extend to local broadcasters. In a December 2024 report, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) calculated that the watchdog imposed USD 4.5 million worth of fines between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, issuing 1,357 broadcast suspensions during the same period. According to the report, fines were applied to media critical of the government, but also to topics ranging from religious sects, social issues, Kurdish issues, and LGBTQ+ content. Even street interviews have not been spared.
Turkish artists have also come under the microscope. In September, the popular girl band Manifest was investigated over their concert outfits. On September 6, after their concert in Istanbul, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched a probe on the grounds the singers were engaged in “obscene behavior” and “exhibitionism” through their dance and performance.
Presidential Chief Advisor Oktay Saral went as far as to accuse the singers of being “immoral, shameless, indecent creatures,” and called for prosecution in order to “prevent them from ever engaging in this exhibitionism again.” As a result of the investigations, the singers were placed under a travel ban and have to regularly check in at the police station.
Women’s rights advocates warn that such interventions reinforce a wider rollback on gender equality. Turkey’s 2021 withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention — a landmark treaty to combat violence against women — marked a turning point. Since then, feminist organizations and campaigners have faced smear campaigns, investigations, and growing restrictions on public demonstrations.
Meanwhile, domestic violence remains a persistent crisis. According to We Will Stop Femicide, at least 394 women were murdered in Turkey in 2024, most of them by partners or relatives. In the first six months of 2025, 136 women were victims of femicide, while 145 died under suspicious circumstances.
Around the time that Manifest was being investigated, popular singer and song writer Mabel Matiz had his recently released song blocked on streaming platforms over what the Family and Social Services Ministry claimed was a threat to “public order and general health,” and “contrary to the traditions and customs of Turkish family.” According to reporting by Bianet, the incident marked “the first time authorities have formally requested a court to block access to a specific song.”
Matiz has faced criticism in the past. In 2022, he released a love song on the last day of Pride month that featured a same-sex love story. RTÜK’s response was swift, calling music television channels and threatening them with heavy consequences if they released the song.
In January 2022, the iconic singer/songwriter Sezen Aksu was also targeted by the media watchdog, which warned television channels not to broadcast her song “It is a Wonderful Thing to Live,” on the grounds it degraded religious values thanks to a sentence in the song that read, “Give my regards to the ignorant Eve and Adam.” Aksu responded with a song called “The Hunter,” in which one verse read, “You cannot kill me, I have my voice, my music, and work. When I say, I, I am everyone.”
Obscenity charges have also been previously used against online content creators. In December 2023, Gizem Bağdaçiçek, a creator of adult content, was detained on obscenity charges. In November 2023, another TikTok content creator was detained on similar charges; they were both subsequently released.
In January 2024, similar measures were taken against another online content producer, with prosecutors citing “semi-naked” images as the reason for the detention. The content creator was arrested on charges of “facilitating the publication of obscene content.” Most online adult content has been blocked in Turkey.
Just six months later, in July 2025, model and activist Melisa Aydınalp was detained after posting a performance in which she criticized state-imposed policies about normal birth. She was accused of alleged public indecency and promotion of obscene content, but was released after one night at the police station due to lack of evidence, and placed under a travel ban.
According to Article 226 of Turkey's Penal Code, the distribution of obscene content via media is prohibited and punishable by a prison sentence. Yet, there is no clear definition of what obscenity means. According to Keser, RTÜK “has no duty” imposing a “family model on adults.”
The censorship of LGBTQ+ expression, artistic performances, and women’s voices reflects not only moral policing, but also a broader strategy of silencing dissent. By framing diverse identities and critical art as “obscenity,” the authorities consolidate control over public life, narrowing the space for free expression in Turkey.
(NS)
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