24/7 Space News
INTERNET SPACE
Twitter back online in Turkey after block
Twitter back online in Turkey after block
By Dmitry ZAKS
Istanbul (AFP) Feb 9, 2023

Twitter was blocked for at least 12 hours on major Turkish mobile providers in an outage that ended early Thursday, following a flurry of online criticism of the government's response to this week's deadly earthquake.

By about 5 am (0200 GMT), the social media site was accessible again.

Online monitor netblocks.org on Wednesday showed Twitter becoming throttled and then completely blocked across all major cell phone providers in the country. The site still worked using VPN services that disguise a user's location.

The country is still stricken after Monday's 7.8-magnitude quake, which killed at least 15,000 people there and in neighbouring Syria.

Turkish social media has been filled with posts by people complaining about a lack of search and rescue efforts in their provinces.

Officials have issued repeated warnings about spreading misinformation in advance of a crucial May 14 election in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will try to extend his two-decade rule.

Netblocks.org confirmed access returned Thursday after Turkish officials held a videoconference call with Twitter executives.

The restoration came after the platform's owner, Elon Musk, tweeted: "Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reenabled shortly."

Turkish deputy infrastructure minister Omer Fatih Sayan tweeted Thursday he had spoken with Twitter leaders and "reminded them of their responsibilities to our country after this disaster", adding that Turkey expected more cooperation in the "fight against disinformation".

Turkey has in the past restricted social media during national emergencies and safety incidents.

Police have detained 18 people since the earthquake over "provocative" social media posts that criticised the government response.

- 'What are we going to do?' -

Turkey's opposition leaders and celebrities warned that Twitter's absence threatened to disrupt rescue efforts and humanitarian relief work.

"Let's stop this disgrace immediately," the secular main opposition CHP party's leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu declared.

"We know everything they are trying to hide."

Nationalist opposition Iyi Party chief Meral Aksener said Wednesday Twitter was needed "to relay the needs of earthquake victims".

But the government's apparent decision to block Twitter in the middle of a profound national crisis reverberated far beyond the political sphere.

Turkish rock star Haluk Levent -- a crooner with 7.2 million Twitter followers and a non-profit group that is involved in helping people in need -- tweeted: "Err, what are we going to do now?"

The Twitter outage came as Erdogan toured two of the hardest-hit Turkish provinces.

He directly acknowledged "shortcomings" in the government's handling of the disaster but pledged to redouble efforts to help the victims.

"It's not possible to be ready for a disaster like this," Erdogan said during a visit to hard-hit Hatay province.

Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
INTERNET SPACE
Fakery and fraud: Energy scammers cast 'wide net' on Facebook
Washington (AFP) Feb 8, 2023
A Filipino consumer fumes as she rips open a portable charger to discover she has been conned - the batteries are choked with sand, making her yet another victim of scammers on Facebook. AFP's fact checkers have uncovered a slew of energy-related scams proliferating on Facebook - from fake solar panel incentives in the United States to hoax electric bike giveaways in Indonesia and the sale of dud devices in the Philippines. And the trend underscores how fraudsters worldwide profit off disinfor ... read more

INTERNET SPACE
NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel releases 2022 Annual Report

Design a spacesuit for ESA

Setting sail for safer space

NASA names first person of Hispanic heritage as chief astronaut

INTERNET SPACE
SpaceX test fires Starship Super Heavy Booster's 31 Engines

Vulcan: Rocket stacked for inaugural launch

SpaceX to test-fire all 33 Starship booster engines Thursday

Launches of Busek Thrusters push OneWeb constellation towards completion

INTERNET SPACE
Preparing to drill Dinira: Sols 3737-3738

Mars Helicopter at Three Forks

Searching for a Drill Site Near Encanto: Sols 3735-3736

Enchanting Encanto Calls: Sols 3732-3734

INTERNET SPACE
China's Deep Space Exploration Lab eyes top global talents

Chinese astronauts send Spring Festival greetings from space station

China to launch 200-plus spacecraft in 2023

China's space industry hits new heights

INTERNET SPACE
AST SpaceMobile announces collaboration with TIM

AccelerComm, TTP set to soar with 5G NTN LEO Space Cell

Space Daily retools to AI/ML centric Content Management System

OneWeb and Kazakhstan National Railways to work together

INTERNET SPACE
High efficiency mid- and long-wave optical parametric oscillator pump source and its applications

Automating the math for decision-making under uncertainty

Understanding laser accelerated electron radiation through terahertz emissions

Turkey's once mighty developers under fire after quake

INTERNET SPACE
New models shed light on life's origin

Researchers focus AI on finding exoplanets

A nearby potentially habitable Earth-mass exoplanet

Two nearby exoplanets might be habitable

INTERNET SPACE
SwRI models explain canyons on Pluto moon

NASA's Juno Team assessing camera after 48th flyby of Jupiter

Webb spies Chariklo ring system with high-precision technique

Europe's JUICE spacecraft ready to explore Jupiter's icy moons

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.