On 15 July 2016, Turkey faced a military coup attempt against the government. Most Turkish citizens learned about the coup attempt from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who contacted a television channel using FaceTime and urged citizens to go into the streets to resist it. Social media platforms, such as Twitter, were used heavily by Turkish citizens, with hashtags such as #TurkeyCoupAttempt, #darbeyehayir, #NoCoupInTurkey and #TurkeyCoup all trending during this period. This paper focuses on one of the most important anti-coup hashtags, #darbeyehayir (NoCoup), to examine how it was used during the anti-coup protests. By applying a mixed methods approach for Twitter content under the hashtag, the aim of the study is to unveil motivational frames used to call for action and provide a rationale for those participating in anti-coup protests. Results demonstrate that the framing dynamics emerging in the hashtags publics in which pro-Erdoğan supporters were dominant and used this process to provide support to the government during the ‘coup’. The hashtag was mainly used as a tool for government propaganda rather than encouraging civic discussions and participation, and ultimately democratic acts in authoritarian countries.

Social media can be used for sharing and learning news but also for spreading misinformation and disinformation to manipulate public opinion. Existing research on fabricated content on social media demonstrates the use of Twitter as a means to disseminate manipulative content (through bots and other means). This study looks at the content created and posted through Twitter during the failed coup attempt that occurred on 15th July 2016 in Turkey. The aim of the study is to examine disinformation content within 10,953 tweets that were disseminated to influence online conversations around the ‘coup’ attempt. The study applies a quantitative approach by using the DiscoverText. Examination of Twitter content at that time showed that the protests following the coup attempt were often reported in the form of disinformation, which includes manipulated and fabricated content. Online disinformation content demonstrated that Twitter users shared information related to events with no sources or explanation. In addition, the tweets containing disinformation were retweeted by others who probably accepted the disinformation as real. The analysis of Twitter content also suggested that bot accounts were likely created to manipulate and deceive Twitter users by spreading false information or news under the hashtag.

In Turkey, a dramatic event involving Syrian refugees happened because of allegations that Syrian men had harassed Turkish women. Following the case, Turkish citizens generated a popular hashtag of #VatanimdaMülteci (#RefugeeinMyCountry) to share negative opinions, feelings, and ideologies towards Syrian refugees. This study is an examination of how Twitter was used to produce and spread hate speech discourse directed at refugees and focus on the representations of refugees through the online environment to provide information about anti-refugee rhetoric for specific nations. A quantitative and qualitative content analysis was carried out of the tweets under the hashtag #VatanimdaMülteci. The results demonstrate that a significant number of tweets contained hate speech comments designed to criticise Turkish government policies regarding refugees, such as the Turkish citizenship provided to refugees and their ability to open businesses in Turkey. The study shows that the hospitality of Turkish citizens turned into hostility over time.