Turkey Temporarily Bans Twitter to Restrict Terror Bombing Images, Information
ISTANBUL, Turkey, July 22 (UPI) — Twitter users in Turkey were blocked from using the social-media platform for at least two hours Wednesday after government authorities insisted the microblogging site remove information about the country’s worst terror attack in two years.
A Turkish court issued the Twitter gag order and ordered a publication ban on photos and videos of the July 20 suicide bombing in southeastern Turkey. Some 32 political activists and aide workers were killed and more than 100 were injured in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border, moments before they were due to cross the border.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said the ban was in reaction to the distribution of information about the attack and the calls for “illegal mass demonstrations.”
Court orders blocking information were issued to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and demanded the removal of attack-related content. Facebook and YouTube quickly removed the banned content but Twitter did not. Twitter removed just 50 of the demanded 107 pieces of content during the prescribed amount of time, but later completed the task.
The suicide bombing Monday has spread outrage and calls for mass protests to condemn terrorism and the government’s foreign policy. Police had released tear gas and water cannons on demonstrators.
In April, the Turkish government temporarily blocked Twitter, Facebook and YouTube access for failing to remove content related to a hostage situation. All of the sites were online within hours after complying with the order.
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