Turkey court says Twitter helps free speech
A court in Turkey has said the country's Twitter ban stops free speech. Blocking Twitter takes away people's right to express themselves. Turkey blocked Twitter in March. The Prime Minister was angry because someone posted audio files of his advisors days before the country's elections. The files had details of possible corruption that could be embarrassing for the government. Mr Erdogan is a critic of social networks. He also ordered YouTube to be blocked for a while. He said in an election speech: "We will wipe out Twitter. I don't care what the international community says." Turks have found many different ways to use Twitter. Internet companies say there was an increase in tweets after the ban but now tweets are half of what they were. Many Turks are angry with the government for banning Twitter. They will try anything to access the micro-blogging site. The court said: "Everyone has the right to express and [share] his/her thoughts and opinions by speech, in writing, in pictures." Twitter was happy with what the court said. Twitter's global public policy team tweeted: "We hope to have Twitter access restored in Turkey soon." |