Turkey blocks Twitter access for few hours

ISTANBUL: Turkey briefly blocked access to Twitter on Wednesday to prevent images of Monday’s deadly bombing from being broadcast and to stop Twitter users from calling for protests against the government, which they blamed for not doing enough to prevent the attack, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Access was restored a few hours later.

A government official said Turkey had asked Twitter to remove 107 URLs with images of the aftermath of the bombing on Monday in southeast Turkey, which killed 31 people and wounded scores. Twitter had removed about 50 of the URLs before it was blocked.

The Turkish government official said access to Twitter was restored after the company ‘removed malicious content, including hate speech, in line with the court order’.

A court in Suruc had issued the ban on Wednesday.