The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Youtube Turkey

Turkey faces legal challenge over Youtube ban

Author

By The Drum Team, Editorial

July 5, 2010 | 2 min read

The Internet Technologies Association has launched a legal challenge in Turkey over a series of website bans which it argues discriminates against millions of Turkish web users.

Many are critical of a creeping cyber censorship with what started in 2007 as a crackdown on child pornography, suicide, drug use and prostitution in 2007 escalating in 2008 when Google owned Youtube was taken down.

This was ostensibly in reaction to a provocative clip posted on the video sharing site in which Greek football fans taunted Turks and made derogatory remarks of the country’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Turkey also accuses Google of dodging £13m in unpaid taxes, although the firm denies this.

A specially created government office with the powers to shutdown websites without a court order has been blamed for the free speech restrictions which have become hotly contested both internally and internationally.

The country’s President Abdullah Gul, is frustrated by the ban which he decries as preventing Turkey from: “integrating with the world,” conscious perhaps of the issues of free speech arising in a country which still harbours ambition to become a member of the EU.

Youtube Turkey

More from Youtube

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +