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Twitter Temporarily Limited in Turkey in Response to Criticism of Government

Twitter Temporarily Limited in Turkey in Response to Criticism of Government

Social media platform restored after outrage over blocking as locals struggle to communicate in earthquake zone

Twitter was restricted in Turkey on Wednesday following the use of the platform for widespread criticism of the government for its response to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 21,000 people in Turkey and Syria.

The internet governance watchdog organization NetBlocks said that it confirmed a disruption based on network data.

It said that issues accessing Twitter first happened with the internet providers TTNET and Turkcell and eventually extended to other operators.

“The filtering measure is likely to impact community rescue efforts underway after the series of deadly earthquakes on Monday,” NetBlocks wrote in a statement.

Twitter has been heavily used in the aftermath of the earthquake. Tweets from Turkey following the earthquake have included criticisms of the government as well as appeals for help from people stuck in the rubble and calls for information about missing loved ones in the area.

A video posted on Wednesday with 1.3 million views reportedly shows officials from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), including the transport minister, leaving one of the affected cities after having been surrounded by an angry crowd.

Berk Esen, an assistant professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabancı University, suggested that the government blocked Twitter in an attempt to avoid images of protests becoming widespread.

“This is generally an attempt on the part of the AKP government to prevent the spread of these public outrages that are becoming more and more common, because the government was of course inefficient in terms of delivering help to the region,” Esen told The Media Line. “If the anger escalates and more and more people see footage of people showing outrage then, of course, it’s going to be really a very bad sign for the AKP government.”

The Turkish government imposed a law in 2020 that required social media companies with more than 1 million users to have representatives in the country who could be subject to investigations. Twitter agreed to bring a representative to Turkey after facing an advertising ban.

“It brings the social media companies under control,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, the senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch.

She said the temporary blocking of Twitter should serve as a wake-up call to what the government might do, especially with elections months away.

“It certainly does give a very chilling sign of what the government may be prepared to do with this law to restrict social media and access on a whim,” she said.

NetBlocks said on Thursday that Twitter was restored after the government held talks with the company about disinformation.

Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Ömer Fatih Sayan said that the government held a video conference with Twitter officials during which they demanded sensitivity in sharing photos of victims as well as cooperation in fighting disinformation.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay reportedly said that he had learned there were technical problems with Twitter only when questioned about the blocking.

Sinclair-Webb said the government faced outrage after Twitter was blocked and backtracked under pressure.

“There was an outcry immediately,” she said.

The upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in June are expected to bring the biggest challenge to Erdoğan’s power since he came to office 20 years ago. Surveys have shown Erdoğan trailing behind several opposition politicians after his popularity declined amid a struggling economy and massive inflation.

In recent years, as much of the Turkish media has been taken over by Erdoğan’s allies, Twitter has been used to share criticism of the government and its officials.

Anger over the authorities’ response to the earthquake and the perceived lack of preparation could be another topic Erdoğan struggles with while campaigning.

Experts believe that the high death toll and the high number of collapsed buildings are partially due to structures not having been built to code. Engineers had warned that an amnesty introduced by the Turkish government on unregulated construction work could threaten people’s lives.

Geologist Celâl Şengör told The Media Line that corruption played a role in buildings not meeting safety standards.

“The political corruption in Turkey favors the contractors and the state mechanism to check the quality of the buildings has been left to the contractors,” he said.

“If you leave it to the people who build the buildings and then ask them to check the quality of it, it defeats the purpose. You need an independent mechanism to check it. But even the independent mechanism would be perhaps a victim of corruption.”

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