Following the earthquake in Van in October 2011, Sarmaşık Association became the target of racist groups on social media. Tweets written with the tag #sarmasikderneginebagisyok (no donations to Sarmaşık Association) became the number 1 trending topic.
When she was in high school, Denizcan Abay started to help her father, spokesperson for the Platform for Solidarity with Arrested Journalists, to keep tally of the journalists in jail. For this reason, she closely observed the price of critical journalism back then.