Twitter access restricted in Turkey days after massive earthquakes

Access to Twitter in Turkey has been limited as thousands of families and rescue teams scramble to cope with the aftermath of Monday’s devastating earthquakes.

Restrictions to the social-media platform started Wednesday afternoon and people have since been using proxy internet servers to bypass them, internet watchdog NetBlocks said.

More than 15,000 people have been killed in the earthquakes, which struck southeastern Turkey and Syria. Thousands of people remain trapped inside collapsed buildings.

Read: Turkey, Syria earthquake: Death toll tops 15,000

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, Turks flocked to Twitter to mobilise help and share footage and photos showing the scale of the devastation. The social media platform didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

In a tweet, the head of Turkey’s main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, urged people to start using proxy servers, known as VPNs, to remain connected to Twitter.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk tweeted, “Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reenabled shortly.”

Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reenabled shortly

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2023

Read: UAE President sends aid worth $100m to Syria, Türkiye