Chrome fans tend to be supporters of internet freedom. The web and social networks tend to promote freedom of speech and information, and services like Twitter have managed to change the world. Of course, not everyone likes this, the Turkish government being in the dreaded list.
How far can a government take its hate for said social network, though. Well, Turkey has banned Twitter at about 4:30 PM ET, causing an outrage across the Turkish Republic, as well as the whole internet. This action is based on a newly-passed law that allows the government to block any site for violating privacy.
Turkey claims they had user complaints that Twitter violated their privacy. Of course, we can assume there could be a political agenda here. After all, users could simply choose not to use Twitter.
“Twitter has been blocked as a preventive measure in order to prevent future damage to our citizens as a last resort.” -BTK
As expected, people are not taking this lightly. Twitter has become a major communications method and taking that from a country’s population is a huge deal. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan doesn’t seem to be changing his mind anytime soon, though.
“I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic.” -Erdoğan
Things are looking harsh, but Turkish citizens have found ways to continue using Twitter. You can still do it via text, for example. VPNs and changing your DNS will also work.
What do you guys think?
I believe freedom of speech is important for any community’s well-being. I honestly believe there is some kind of political agenda here, and any country that is scared of social networks obviously has bigger problems at hand.
As Chrome fans, we are also web fans. Limiting the web might be understandable in some ways for extreme situations, but this is outrageous.