Turkey Bans Twitter

[cali]

The Turkish Prime Minister blocks Twitter and threatens to do the same for Facebook and YouTube. Social media has been a key tool for protestors in Turkey.

The Turkish Prime Minister has banned Twitter across the country. Twitter was blocked just after midnight in Turkey Thursday, according to Reuters.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan stated his intention to block the social media platform—which has been an essential means of communication and organization in Turkey—12 hours before actually cutting if off, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News. “We now have a court order. We’ll eradicate Twitter. I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic,” Erdoğan said at a campaign rally in Bursa on March 20.

Those who tried to access Twitter were taken to a statement from Turkey’s telecommunications regulator that cites court orders allowing the government to ban Twitter.

<snip>

http://time.com/32864/turkey-bans-twitter/

[CFLDem]

1. Tyranny is on the march.

😟

[Matilda]

2. According to a tweet that just came through on my account,

almost 2.5 million tweets have been posted from Turkey since the "ban" came into force - 17,000 a minute. It was posted by a Turkish journalist working at the BBC, and retweeted to my account.

It comes from a link: @zetegazete. It's in Turkish, so I can't read it, but looks as if it isn't as easy as the government thinks.

Edited for clarity

[R B Garr]

3. So they can't see when Shaq tweets he's sexy?!

Gads!