Turkey Thursday ordered X to restrict access to the account of jailed political opposition leader and Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu. X said it is complying but will challenge the order.

Imamoglu, who is the main rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, can no longer send messages in Turkey to his 9.7 million followers on X. His account is still accessible abroad. His social media feed has been his main tool for communicating with his supporters and keeping himself in the public eye.

Access to the X account of jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, has been blocked in Turkey in response to a legal demand, a message on his social media account said on Thursday.