Turkey threatens to ban Twitter

Twitter has gone dark in Turkey after the Prime Minster vowed to ‘wipe out’ the social network after it refused to remove links deemed illegal. However, not everyone in government backed the move, with Turkish President Abdullah Gul denouncing the government ban – on Twitter. “A complete ban on social media platforms cannot be approved,” tweeted Mr Gul to his more than four million followers just hours after the government edict. Mr Gul, a frequent user of social media, said it was not “technically possible to totally block access to platforms used all over the world”. Turkish authorities had blocked access to Twitter late on Thursday after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “wipe out” the social network. The state-run Anatolia news agency said authorities “technically blocked access to Twitter” because the service had ignored various Turkish court orders to remove some links deemed illegal. Critics claim it was an attempt by the government to clampdown on the spread of corruption allegations targeting Mr Erdogan and his inner circle, which threatens the embattled leader ahead of local polls on March 30. In his Twitter message, Mr Gul said relevant pages could be blocked in case of any violation of people’s privacy but only through a “court order”. “I hope this ban will not last long,” he added.