Twitter, Facebook blocked in Turkey

The military in Turkey has been deployed in Istanbul and Ankara, and the government has apparently blocked social media in response to what is being reported as an attempted coup.

Turkey Blocks, a Twitter account that regularly checks if sites are being blocked in the country, reported at 11:04 PM Istanbul time that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were all unresponsive, though Instagram and Vimeo remained available.

Access was restored after about an hour-and-a-half, according to the research agency Dyn Research.

Some residents of Turkey appeared able to access social media, likely via a VPN or some other anonymizing service. Anyone affected might want to try Tor Browser for Windows and Mac OS or Orbot for Android (or try some of the other circumvention techniques listed here).

The U.S. State Department acknowledged reports of a social media block in the country and suggested anyone trying to contact friends or family use email, text messages or phone calls instead.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now