In Turkey, Police Monitor 40M Social Media Users for Presidential Insults: Report

The Turkish National Police's "anti-cybercrimes department" has dedicated a special desk to monitoring social media for the crime of "insulting state authorities," according to a local news report.

The desk became necessary after a flurry of cases were opened after individuals allegedly insulted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan online, according to the English-language Hurriyet Daily News.

"Even if the environment is virtual, crime is a reality," Kursat Basoglu, an official in the department, told the paper. "You cannot insult a person, slander or offend in normal life, so you cannot do it on social media platforms either."

In a truly bizarre case in 2015, Turkish man Dr. Bilgin Ciftci went on trial for allegedly sharing a meme in which Erdogan was compared to the "Lord of the Rings" character Gollum. Ciftci came up with a novel defense and argued that Gollum is, in fact, a hero in the fantasy epic.

Peter Jackson, director of the "Lord of the Rings" films based on the books by author J.R.R. Tolkien, and LotR super-geek Stephen Colbert came to the man's defense by pointing out that the images actually showed Smeagol, Gollum's good alter-ego. (You really need to watch the below video in which Colbert lays it all out.)

A man in Turkey is on trial for comparing President Erdogan to Gollum. But was it really Gollum? Stephen makes the defendant's case in the courtroom of being on television.

Two years after the Facebook posting, Ciftci was convicted and given a suspended jail sentence. A court later reportedly acquitted him.

According to Hurriyet, the Turkish police cyber anti-crime department said it monitors some 40 million active internet users' social media to detect crimes beyond the alleged insults, including prostitution, drugs and illegal betting.

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