Turkey bans Twitter, despite Prime Minster being a regular user

TWITTER has been switched off in one European country following mass protests over a new internet censorship law.

A Turkish protester checks his phones Twitter feed with no luck.

TURKEY has officially banned Twitter.

The Turkish government has restricted access to Twitter hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “root out” the social media network where wiretapped recordings have been leaked, damaging the government’s reputation ahead of local elections.

Although a regular user of the service, Prime Minister Erdogan has previously expressed his disdain for the social network, just last year calling it “the worst menace to society” as the “Occupy Gezi” protests started building momentum.

It isn’t the first time that the Turkish government has threatened to take down social media in the country, especially Twitter. However, this is the first time the government has actually lived up to their word and taken the social network offline completely.

Turkish journalist Erdem Arda Gunes told the Daily Dot how the ban was implemented. “The ban started after midnight and got into effect gradually depending which internet providers they used, but it’s a court order (actually four different courts) which means every provider, including GSM companies, are obliged to implement this ban.”

The ban comes off the back of protests in Turkey over a controversial internet law.

News of Twitter being offline in Turkey is currently trending on the social network worldwide, with the hashtag #TwitterisblockedinTurkey the second most talked about topic.

Not if we have anything to say about it... #twitterisblockedinturkey pic.twitter.com/os4Vhv2slX

— Anon GovernmentWatch (@Anon_GovWatchCA) March 21, 2014

Twitter has tried to help with a workaround for Turkish users, explaining a method to tweet over text message.

Turkish users: you can send Tweets using SMS. Avea and Vodafone text START to 2444. Turkcell text START to 2555.

— Policy (@policy) March 20, 2014

Other Turkish users have found ways to get around the ban using virtual private networks (VPNs), allowing tech savvier users to get online.

Regardless, this type of censorship is likely to only lead to more protests regarding the new law.