A court in Istanbul blocked veteran jailed journalist Fatih Altayli’s YouTube channel on Thursday in order to “protect national security and public order” and “prevent crimes”, it said.
Altayli, who was arrested on June 22 for allegedly threating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been continuing his YouTube show from prison in a series called “Fatih Altayli CANNOT COMMENT.”
“They [the government] control all the media – hundreds, thousands of bought newspapers, journalists, outlets, publishers. And yet, they can’t tolerate just me,” Altayli said in a letter from jail on Friday.
Altayli also said he will continue working from jail despite the latest ban.
“We will pursue our legal rights … I suppose it should be possible to watch [the channel] via VPN. If we can continue, we will do so that way. Let’s hope for the best and keep going,” he added.
According to a report by Marketing Turkey and the Media Monitoring Centre, Altayli was the most-watched journalist on YouTube in July, drawing a total of 28 million views.
His channel drew an average of 634,000 views per video. According to monthly results, the channel has held the top spot on YouTube since March. It has about 1,650,000 subscribers.
YouTube has not yet enforced the access block, as it has two weeks to implement or object the decision. But on previous similar occasions, YouTube has almost always yielded to Turkish court demands.
Born in 1962, Altayli is a veteran Turkish journalist and television presenter who left traditional media in 2023 to start his own YouTube channel, which then became one of the most popular in the country.
Turkey ranked in 159th place out of 180 countries in 2025 in the latest Press Freedom Index issued by the watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders, RSF.
Rights groups and journalistic organisations have repeatedly called on the government to release Altayl.
“We jointly call for the immediate release of Fatih Altayli and urge Turkish authorities to cease exploiting vague legal provisions to persecute journalists,” 10 international and Turkish organisations, including the International Press Institute and Committee to Protect Journalists, wrote in a joint letter on June 25.
“A free press must include the right to freedom of expression and to critique political leaders without fear of reprisal,” the letter added.