Twitter Access Restored In Turkey After Earthquake Criticism

Access to Twitter in Turkey has reportedly been restored, after the Turkish government restricted connections to the microblogging platform on Wednesday.

The Netblocks internet observatory had reported that “network data confirm the restriction of Twitter on multiple internet providers in Turkey as of Wednesday 8 February 2023.”

President Tayyip Erdogan reportedly took the decision after criticism of the government’s response to the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and northern Syria on Monday, that have so far killed at least 15,000 people.

Twitter access

However that decision sparked protests by political opposition figures, academics and activists, Reuters reported.

A day later and Netblocks reported that “service was restored the next morning after state media reported that Turkish authorities had held a meeting with Twitter’s head of policy on disinformation and the need for content takedowns.”

It went into greater detail on Twitter.

“Metrics confirm access to Twitter is being restored in Turkey following hours of filtering,” NetBlocks said on its Twitter account.

Reuters reported that Turkey’s Deputy Transportation and Infrastructure Minister, Omer Fatih Sayan, said that in talks with Twitter management, he had reminded Twitter of its responsibilities and had conveyed expectation of co-operation on fighting disinformation as earthquake relief work continues.

“Our demands are clear, strong cooperation on disinformation and false reports, swift action against fake accounts and … measures against content that could damage public order and security,” Sayan reportedly said on Twitter.

Access restored

Earlier on Wednesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk said that the company had been informed by the government of Turkey that full access to the social media platform in the country will be re-enabled “shortly.”

“Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be re-enabled shortly,” Musk said in a post on Twitter.