Twitter and TikTok are blocked in Turkey

Twitter and TikTok are blocked in Turkey. This happens two days after the south of the country was hit by a strong earthquake. It could be related to that; the Turkish government has often shut down social media after incidents and disasters in the past.

This includes the monitoring website NetBlocks reports based on network data that Twitter is banned in Turkey. The filtering of the service is used by all major internet providers such as TTNet and Turkcell, but this has now been extended to more providers, according to the website. However, it is possible to work around it via VPN connections.

The Turkish section of TikTok reports on Twitter that it is aware of the reports about the poor or unavailability of the service. The tweet in question emphasizes that in crisis situations such as natural disasters, it is very important that platforms such as TikTok remain online, so that it can be used as a means of communication. The platform says it hopes that access will be restored as soon as possible.

Yaman Akdeniz, a professor at Bilgi University in Istanbul and cyber rights activist speaks about restricting access to both services and significantly slowing traffic. He also emphasizes the importance of keeping all communication channels open at this time after the earthquake. He says that there are several options for the government to do this, although it is not immediately clear what the exact cause of the disruptions is. Also the leader of a Turkish opposition party out of his frustration about Twitter being blocked on the day communication can save lives.