Two days after a pair of devastating earthquakes devastated the region, Turkey may be limiting access to Twitter. Hundreds of people remain trapped in buildings in Turkey and Syria, where the death toll has surpassed 12,000 people.
According to Bloomberg, users in Turkey began experiencing difficulties using Twitter on Wednesday afternoon. Some have used VPNs to access the service. The head of Turkey’s biggest opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has accused the government of censoring Twitter.
It’s unclear why, in the midst of such destruction, the Turkish government would seek to block access to Twitter. The social networking site is still a crucial disaster response tool, and users have begun sharing photographs of the earthquake’s devastation.
Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reenabled shortly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2023
While Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday afternoon that access to Twitter in Turkey should be “reenabled soon,” Twitter does not have a communications staff that can be contacted for comment.
Turkey has already barred its citizens from using social media, so this would not be the first time. It also happened during cross-border military operations and terrorist strikes. Twitter was briefly prohibited in Turkey in 2014. Users were exchanging voice recordings and papers that alleged to expose corruption within the area of influence of then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan. Erdoan was elected president of Turkey later that year and still holds that position today. His administration has been chastised for its reaction to this week’s calamity.
