Social media blocking in Turkey

Reports from monitoring organisations claim that Turley has blocked access to social media websites, such as Facebook, Youtube, WhatsApp and Twitter, beginning Friday at around 1.20 a.m. local time. Domestic internet service providers throttled connection to these sites, making access slow. Prime Minister Binali Yildirm did not directly confirm that blocks were in place but acknowledged that “from time to time for security reasons we can use such measures”. The blocking came after representatives from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party were detained. Shortly after the arrests, as social unrest hit Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey’s mainly pro-Kurdish south-east region.