Turkey lifted Twitter ban after court decision

The Turkish premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan banned Twitter on March 20 after information which implicated him and his close aides in corruption was anonymously leaked on the social media platform.

However, the ban drew severe criticism from NATO allies and human rights groups around the globe, according to who the bans were against the spirit of democracy.

The Constitutional Court of Turkey then ruled against the ban on Twitter and ordered the communication ministry to revert it. According to the court, the ban violated free speech rights.

The court’s decision resulted in the telecoms authority’s move to lift the ban by contacting internet service providers in the country. The transport and communications ministry also then confirmed the lifting of the ban saying, “In line with the decision made by the Constitutional Court … the measure blocking access to the Twitter.com Internet site has been removed,” it said. “After the necessary technical arrangements, the site will be opened to use.”

Despite the government’s ban, several Turkish users of Twitter accessed the social networking site using different settings and tools. Adem Yavuz Arslan, a Turkish journalist, has asked people to maintain their virtual private networks even though the ban has been lifted.

“Twitter has been unblocked. But do not change your VPN settings yet. Because the government has the plug on the Internet. It can pull it whenever it wants,” he wrote.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=42991

Posted by Hunain Naseer on Apr 4 2014. Filed under Latest News, National. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.