ISTANBUL (Reuters) -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.

Access to jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu ’s social media account on X has been blocked in Turkey, a monitoring platform said Thursday, the latest move against a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to Yaman Akdeniz, head of Turkey's Freedom of Expression Association, the blocking was not surprising “as hundreds of accounts have been subject to such orders since İmamoğlu’'s arrest.”