The symbol for Twitter is a bird, but it is not the turkey. This may be no coincidence, as Turkey is threatening to shut down the social media site over leaked information from the account of BirGun, the country’s left-wing newspaper, as reported by Inferse.
BirGun posted a link to an article concerning an investigation concerning Turkish Intelligence trucks allegedly transporting weapons to extremist fighters in Syria. The Turkish government complained to Twitter and said that the information threatened national security. Twitter removed the link to the story and several tweets, but users of the social media site reposted the link. Now the Turkish government demands that BirGun be barred from Twitter entirely, something Twitter management is not willing to do. If not, Twitter might face a ban in Turkey, and it wouldn’t be the first time.
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A spokesman for Twitter said, “Out of almost 60, 000 tweets on the account, Twitter witheld access in Turkey to a small number of tweets that discussed the national security issue referenced in the order. We continue to work diligently to protect the rights of our users and preserve access of millions of Twitter users in Turkey.”
Early in 2014, Turkey blocked access to Twitter and Youtube in the country because its government opposed some discussions that were taking place on the internet. Twitter use was restored in a couple of weeks, and Turks were able to access Youtube again in a few months.
