Yesterday we reported Turkey’s Prime minister’s threats to take down Twitter. Today, Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul criticized the country’s attempt to put Twitter in the dark. Ironically, he broke his social media silence with a tweet from his official account.
The tweet reads “The wholesale shuttering of social media platforms cannot be approved.”
Sosyal medya platformlarının tamamen kapatılması tasvip edilemez.
— Abdullah Gül (@cbabdullahgul) March 21, 2014
Twitter is currently inaccessible in Turkey outside of methods for breaching the ban, which President Abdullah Gul allegedly had to do, joining the millions of Turkish Twitter users who have found ways around the ban.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Twitter ban would soon backfire, driving tweets in Turkey up by 138% and boosting VPN usage.
Users in Turkey have collectively tweeted over 2 million times since the ban was issued, reportedly setting new records for Twitter use in the country.
A security and privacy extension, ZenMate, for Google Chrome saw 25,000 visitors from Turkey to its application in the Chrome store. Hotspot Shield, a VPN provider, also experienced increased usage from Turkey, claiming the number one Android app in the Google Play store in Turkey.
“Twitter and the rest, we will root out all of them. I don’t care what the international community says, they will see the power of the Republic of Turkey,” Mr. Erdogan said Thursday at a rally.
Turkish News Agency’s say access to Twitter is being blocked as a last resort to avert the unjust treatment of its citizens.
[Photo Credit: Genctime]
0 Comments