Twitter CEO Elon Musk in a tweet said Twitter has been informed by Turkey’s government that access will be re-enabled shortly to the social media platform. Twitter has been restricted in Turkey, the Netblocks internet observatory earlier said, just two days after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 11,500 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria.
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“Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reenabled shortly,” Elon Musk tweeted.
On the restriction on Twitter, netblocks.org social media monitor said that the social media website was being restricted “on multiple internet providers in Turkey”.
“Turkey has an extensive history of social media restrictions during national emergencies and safety incidents,” the monitor said.
The restrictions reportedly came after Turkish people used the social media platform to highlight the failures of Turkey’s government response following the earthquake and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s role in the same. Turkish social media flooded with remarks from users who were dissatisfied with the search and rescue operations in their areas. Following this, over a dozen people have been detained for criticising the President, reports claimed.
However, AFP reported that Twitter was still accessible using virtual private network (VPN) services, that hides user’s physical location.
This comes in the backdrop of the looming risk at Erdogan’s political aspirations ahead of May 14 election in which the President will eye for an extension to his two-decade rule.
