Turkey escalates social media war with YouTube ban
Turkey has moved to block access to YouTube within its borders in the latest salvo of an increasingly desperate bid to muffle opposition – ostensibly on the grounds of national security.
The latest draconian measure was introduced a day after a court ordered the suspension of a ban on Twitter (which has yet to be revoked) and follows the uploading of an ‘audio leak’ taken during a national security meeting of the Turkish government.
The apparently authentic tape showed Turkish officials discussing the situation in Syria, prompting the Turkish telecoms authority to take an ‘administrative measure’ against the site.
In a statement TIB said: "After technical analysis and legal consideration.... an administrative measure has been taken for this website."
Confusion abounds as to whether this constitutes an outright ban however with some users reporting that they can still access the service, this hasn’t prevented the #youtubeblockedinturkey hashtag from going viral however.