Turkey has blocked Twitter – as well as Google's public DNS service [1], used to circumvent the block. It seems, however, that the Turkish government's plan to censor dissent has backfired, as tweets coming out from Turkey are on the rise.
The ban on Twitter, which reportedly effects some 10 million users in Turkey, follows the publication of documents allegedly exposing corruption in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's inner circle.
News reports say [2] that Erdogan promised to “wipe out Twitter” adding that he did not care what the international community says.
Juan Cole describes [3] Erdogan's attempt to block the micro-blogging service as “clumsy”:
Erdogan’s clumsy attempt at internet censorship crashed and burned immediately. Turkish youth are sophisticated about using Tor and VPN workarounds, and the Turkish twittersphere was reconstituted so fast it probably made Erdogan’s head spin.
Erik Meyersson adds:
#Turkey [4] tweeps discovered @torproject [5] last year, no surprise ppl still tweeting despite #TwitterisblockedinTurkey [6] pic.twitter.com/Exz3kVh91l [7]
— Erik Meyersson (@emeyersson) March 23, 2014 [8]
And Turkish researcher Zeynep Tufekci is all smiles that Turkish Twitter users are making their voices heard despite the ban:
:-) “despite”=”because of” RT @mashable [9] Whoa: 1.2 million tweets sent in Turkey, despite ban http://t.co/P7MIhx6Vhr [10] pic.twitter.com/OKzxHFcALT [11]
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) March 21, 2014 [12]
However, she adds:
A DNS block, followed by a patchy IPS block, then who-knows-what. Turkey is on its way to high tech literacy. Next up, grandmas on Tor.
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) March 23, 2014 [13]
From Turkey, Engin Onder describes how Turkish Twitter users spread the word on how to circumvent the block:
#twitter [14] blocked in #turkey [15] tonight. folks are painting #google [16] dns numbers onto the posters of the governing party. pic.twitter.com/9vQ7NTgotO [17]
— Engin Onder (@enginonder) March 21, 2014 [18]