The site was blocked after is was used to spread evidence of the government’s alleged wrongdoing.
Today, Twitter turned eight years old and for its present, Turkey blocked the social media site from use. Happy birthday, Twitter, don’t blow too hard on your candles. It would seem that Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, hasn’t been taking kindly to accusations that he’s somewhat corrupt.
Erdogan took action against Twitter after some users posted documents reportedly showing evidence of corruption within his office – a claim he denies (somewhat unsurprisingly). But Erdogan’s hard-line take on Twitter’s role in the scandal has seemingly backfired. Zete.com reported that since the ban came into effect, roughly 2.5 million tweets have been posted – about 17,000 every minute. Allegedly, these are record breaking figures. Twitter had been sending out messages to their users instructing them how to continue sending out tweets via the site, either by texting, changing their domain or using a VPN (virtual private network). Turkish users of Twitter can also find details on how to sidestep the ban by a number of leading Turkish websites.
The move comes after a wiretapping scandal where the deputy PM announced that Turkish Intelligence were tapping as many as 2,473 people. This scandal, combined with the government’s new stance on Twitter, has come at an awful time for the man who has held office for the last 11 years, as decisive local elections are due to take place on 30th March. Erdogan has said that he wishes to “”wipe out” the social networking site and “eradicate” Twitter’s influence in the country.
In total, Turkey has blocked 10 million users from the micro-blogging site after Erdogan claimed: “We’ll eradicate Twitter. I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic.”
Prior to Erdogan’s claim, the Turkish Prime Minister had said that his political opposition had been hacking encrypted wires in an effort to create a false phone conversation where he asked his son to conceal significant sums of money before an inquiry reached the government. The power struggle between Erdogan and head of the opposition, Fetullah Gulen, has been growing steadily with Gulen telling Erdogan: “My advice to you is either flee the country, take your helicopter, or resign.”
As today has progressed, the Turkish government’s policy on Twitter has come under intense scrutiny with European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes calling the move: “Groundless, pointless, cowardly“.
There are currently no further plans to block Facebook or other mediums, but it remains to be seen how long Erdogan will stand by his “”Twitter, schmitter!” comment.
Featured image: Twitter
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