An announcement by X that it is challenging a request to ban imprisoned Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu's presidential candidacy account in Turkey has been met with scepticism by digital campaigners. The account, created to support Imamoglu's candidacy for the next presidential election, was first blocked in Turkey late last month following a government request. Imamoglu's main X account, which had nearly 10 million followers, was blocked in Turkey in May 2025 under a similar order from the government, which X also said it had challenged in the courts. Saudi dissident blocksTurkey is not the only country to which X has responded to takedown requests for accounts belonging to government critics and dissidents. He pointed out that there had been recurring reports suggesting that the Saudi government had had the technical capability to block major social media platforms if it considered doing so necessary.