Twitter inaccessible in Turkey as quake response criticism mounts. On Wednesday, Twitter became inaccessible on major Turkish mobile providers as online criticism of the government’s response to this week’s deadly earthquake grew.
In Turkey, AFP reporters were unable to access the social media network. It could still be accessed through VPN services that mask a user’s location.
Twitter was restricted “on multiple internet providers in Turkey,” according to the netblocks.org social media monitor.
“Turkey has a long history of restricting social media during national emergencies and safety incidents,” the monitor added.
Twitter inaccessible in Turkey as quake response criticism mounts. Since Monday’s earthquake, Turkish police have detained more than a dozen people for social media posts criticizing how President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has handled the disaster.
Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor and its aftershocks killed at least 11,200 people in southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria.
Turkish social media have been filled with posts by people complaining about a lack of search and rescue efforts in their provinces.
The Twitter outage came as Erdogan toured two of the hardest-hit Turkish provinces.
Turkish officials released no immediate statements about the service disruption.
But they had issued repeated warnings about spreading misinformation in advance of a crucial May 14 election in which Erdogan will try to extend his two-decade rule.
