Turkey on Wednesday shut down the website and social media accounts of T24, a leading independent digital news website, citing its "LGBT propaganda", the justice ministry said.
The move came several weeks after authorities launched a major crackdown on the LGBTQ community, raiding gay bars, nightclubs and the homes of activists and community members with warrants for 162 people.
The closure drew sharp condemnation from a dozen Turkish journalists' associations and the main opposition Yeni Parti.
"As part of the 'My Family is Safe' investigation... the website and social media accounts of online news portal T24, which has produced 118 pieces of content constituting LGBT propaganda over the past year, have been shut down," a ministry statement said.
The site and its X account were shut down by an order from Istanbul 1st magistrates court, dated September 29, according to EngelliWeb which monitors Turkish internet censorship.
Speaking to AFP, T24's foreign news desk editor Buse Sogutlu confirmed the closure had taken effect on Wednesday afternoon.
"We got the notification an hour ago. The website is blocked in Turkey now," she said.
T24, which is headquartered in Istanbul with another office in Ankara and a staff of 40, had been subjected to a "social media harassment campaign in recent days", she said.
The closure went beyond T24's coverage of LGBTQ issues, describing it as a blow by the authorities "against pure journalism", she added.
In its ruling, the court justified the move on grounds T24 published "content aimed at weakening the Turkish family structure", according to a report by DW Turkce.
Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel denounced the move as "repression".
"In a country whose constitution states, 'The press is free and cannot be censored,' a media outlet relied on by millions for news is having its doors locked by a decision from a criminal court over the flimsiest of pretexts," he wrote on X.
"A state cannot be run like this. This wrong must be rectified without a moment's delay."
The move was furiously denounced by 12 Turkish journalists' associations as "a grave attack on our profession". They called for it to "be reversed immediately".
"The decision to close down the T24 news portal is not only a very serious violation of the government's obligations regarding press and freedom of expression, it also directly obstructs citizens' right to receive news," it said.
They said the 'My Family Is Safe' operation had had "targeted press and freedom of expression from the very first day", noting that one of those arrested was journalist Tugba Tekerek, who is still behind bars.
In a letter from prison published by the MLSA rights group on the 15th day of her imprisonment, Tekerek said her spirits were "high" despite her situation.
"My determination to fight for journalism in the pursuit of a better world and a democratic, free country has not wavered in the slightest," she wrote.
She was arrested in connection with an article she wrote on Georgia's LGBTQ community ahead of the country's 2024 elections that was published on the website of leading Turkish LBGTQ rights group Kaos GL.
Turkey's LGBTQ community has increasingly come under pressure from the authorities, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan describing it as a "deviant movement" of "perverts".
Days before the raids, Turkish officials had confirmed the country would hold an early election in April 2028. Prominent LGBTQ activists told AFP the operation was "the start of the election campaign".
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek has said the My Family is Safe operation was launched as part of Erdogan's "Decade of the Family" which is aimed at "protecting our children, the institution of the family and social order".
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