Turkey Social Media Ban: First Twitter, Now YouTube Forbidden By Prime Minister Erdogan
Turkey is cracking down when it comes to its most recent plan of action to ban social media outlets, Twitter and YouTube.
The crackdown was implemented by Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan and began last week. ErdoÄan instated the ban in response to a social media leak of a conversation between top government officials discussing their plan to go to war with Syria. Enraged by the leak, ErdoÄan took matters into his own hands and issued the ban.
Turkish Internet users did not respond kindly to the embargo as they realized upon logging in to Twitter that they were no longer able to indulge in their routine Twitter activities. The ban created such frenzy among Turkish web users that the Turkish courts suspended the social media ban. However, ErdoÄan has chosen to avoid the suspension that conveniently contains a 30-day window before it officially goes into effect.
To make matters worse, ErdoÄan has continued on his social media rampage and prohibited YouTube on Thursday. Facebook may be next, according to ErdoÄan. Turkey's top media regulating agencies have followed suit and announced a similar ban on the broadcast of the leaked conversation to television and radio channels. (CNN)
The leaked conversation that started it all may be one of many reasons why ErdoÄan has decided on this drastic course of action. The ban may be a political gain for ErdoÄan who currently faces key local elections in the next few days. Speculators say that ErdoÄan's hope may be to keep supporters away from social media posts that slander his name and the Turkish government. By vilifying social media, ErdoÄan plans to keep his large number of already faithful supporters and try to gain more votes in the days leading to the upcoming elections.
However, the reality of chaos that the ban has created among Turkish citizens may hinder rather than help ErdoÄan. Turkish citizens are now staging group efforts to circumvent the Twitter ban and even publishing tutorials on how to set up private networks. Will ErdoÄan's ban create an all out war? Well, we'll just have to wait and see.