Turkey bans YouTube and Twitter

Disclaimer: This post was originally published in TechNews on April 6, 2014

“The Turkish government banned YouTube on March 27, less than a week after Ankara made a similar blackout of the social networking site Twitter, which is estimated to have more than 10 million Turkish users” reported CNN.

The shutdown came into being just a few days before the municipal elections were taking place nationwide. According to the Turkish government, they have blocked YouTube as a response to the leak of a confidential conversation which was taking place between top government officials discussing the probability of attacking their neighboring country Syria. The leak is "a despicable attack, an act of espionage," the Foreign Ministry says.

However, Turkey's Twitter ban is still going on, and it has affected the social life of many people as they were connected through Twitter. Although, the good part is that the block has actually attracted many people in the country to use Twitter than ever before. NBC reported that “while Turkish residents were originally getting around the Twitter ban by changing their Domain Name System (DNS) settings, recently the Erdogan government has been cracking down, forcing Twitter users to download mobile Virtual Private Network (VPN) apps or tweet via text message.”

The Christian Science Monitor explains this ban thusly: “Turkey is a complicated country, largely split between a secular, liberal youth, and older, more religious conservatives.” Overall, Turkey is a very digitally-connected country: Pew Research found that 80 percent of Turkey’s 34 million Internet users are on social networks. It remains to be seen whether banning social media weakens opposition or fuels the flame.

On March 20, after Twitter was banned in the country, it offered a work-around for Turkish users which uses SMS messaging. Within less than 24 hours, Twitter use in Turkey rose 138 percent, according to social media firms Brandwatch and WeAreSocial. According to Turkish research group Gonzo Insight, there were almost 2.5 million tweets from Turkey from when the ban was put in effect to the next morning, setting records for Twitter use in the country. #TwitterisblockedinTurkey also became a global Twitter trend. Google also offered its own Twitter access backdoor: DNS addresses that went viral online and on the streets. Immediately after the ban, searches for “DNS” in Turkey boomed. But soon, the telecommunication department executed a tougher IP-level block, and searches for DNS fell off. This social media ban can be called “the Streisand effect,” which means that when we try to control access to something, there are high chances that we end up bringing more attention to it.

The move triggered additional public outrage toward the government and it made them move towards international condemnation. It is said that this scandal has grown into the biggest challenge of Erdogan’s 11-year rule. It has affected the behavior of the public in the way that they have become aggressive towards their government’s continuous ban on their social life. Earlier, they had banned the use of alcohol, then threats were given to ban Facebook, and YouTube was once banned which caused educational and entertainment blockage to many people. People have started to feel helpless and have come out to the streets to protest against this imposed law. The issue has become a tug-of-war between Erdogan's administration and Twitter.

Some 2.5 million tweets were posted within three hours of Twitter getting blocked in Turkey. Just before midnight on Thursday, March 27, 2013, over 10 million users started wondering why they could not access the site. Twitter users were able to continue posting by changing their DNS on their computers or downloading certain VPN applications on their smart phones.

Most people think that the Prime Minister did this on purpose because in the recent weeks, almost daily anonymous internet tapes of telephone conversations were released which clearly highlighted that Erdogan was involved in corruption.

The controversy over the ban has added to an already febrile atmosphere ahead of elections, with some rival candidates even warning of armed provocateurs and possible assassination attempts during the polls.

Within less than 24 hours, Twitter use in Turkey rose steeply to 138 percent which is a beneficial effect for the Twitter Company but not for Erdogan because he wants to disconnect the public from the world, which is, of course, not possible in today’s situation where everyone is well-aware of their rights.

Erdogan has decreased his chances of coming back into power, and by making this move, he has increased his chances of being caught by the forces for corruption. The people, especially the youth, are highly affected by this ban because in this age, when they are told not to use something, they tend to use that more. People have left their houses and are on the streets protesting against the government. They are being abused by the forces as well as mentally by themselves thinking what might happen next. Their daily and personal lives are affected by this move; they don’t get to eat, sleep, or socialize the way they did before. This may cause depression to many people and it may also hit the economy of the country because when people come out to the streets to protest, they won’t work.

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