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Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

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Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#33
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a difference between war and executive priviledges. The former (Russia) unilaterally imposed a decision (war) on another government and its people. The latter (erdogan) is acting in his capacity as the elected representative of the people. Starlink cannot override the decision of the elected executive. He needs approval for that.

Approval from whom?

The state. In the case of UA that was Zelensky. In Turkey it's Erdogan.

HNer often seem to have this weird idea that companies can take governments head-on.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#34
post #5

In the case of protests etc I'd understand the goal behind it from certain actors involved, but why in this case?

Typical state excuse, "false information". Also there was growing anger, they cannot control it like the mainstream media. Media will only show the actions blessed by the state.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#35

Turkish here. This is unbelievable, but totally expected from the current "democractic" government. Social media usage is very high in Türkiye and people are coordinating using social media (mainly Twitter) for rescue operations in near realtime. I'm pretty much sure some people will literally die under wreckage because of communication interruptions as the result of this block. (For anyone telling to use VPN, yeah,…

Is there anything specific about Twitter here, or is it just the most popular? I don't see why they couldn't do the same on Facebook, Telegram or some other platform.

probably because other social media sites have already proven time and time again they are happy to weaponize their platforms against a population if the leaders of that country ask them too.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#36
post #24

Turkish here. This is unbelievable, but totally expected from the current "democractic" government. Social media usage is very high in Türkiye and people are coordinating using social media (mainly Twitter) for rescue operations in near realtime. I'm pretty much sure some people will literally die under wreckage because of communication interruptions as the result of this block. (For anyone telling to use VPN, yeah,…

When you use quotes around “Democratic” do you mean the elections are rigged? I’m not familiar with the legitimacy or lack thereof of Turkish elections.

One incident even featured a pre-filled ballot indicating a vote for then-ruling parties.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#37

Turkish here. This is unbelievable, but totally expected from the current "democractic" government. Social media usage is very high in Türkiye and people are coordinating using social media (mainly Twitter) for rescue operations in near realtime. I'm pretty much sure some people will literally die under wreckage because of communication interruptions as the result of this block. (For anyone telling to use VPN, yeah,…

> For anyone telling to use VPN, yeah, many people are used to using VPN because of these blocks

not to mention, imagine learning to setup a VPN (Beacuse your life depends on it) while you're buried under rubble..

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#38
post #12

People asked Elon Musk on twitter to deploy Starlink to Turkey and he said he can't because it is not approved. I wonder why.

There is a difference between war and executive priviledges. The former (Russia) unilaterally imposed a decision (war) on another government and its people. The latter (erdogan) is acting in his capacity as the elected representative of the people. Starlink cannot override the decision of the elected executive. He needs approval for that.

This is a strange comment; maybe I'm not understanding it.

1) Starlink is available on the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine, with the support of the government of Ukraine. The unlawful presence of Russian troops in Ukrainian territory doesn't change any of this. Turkish authorities, conversely, have not authorised Starlink in Turkey (for obvious reasons - their terror at losing their power to censor).

2) Turkey is not a democracy, and to say Erdogan was elected by the people ignores his misuse of state power to suppress, harass, and imprison members of the opposition, his control of the media, his control of the judiciary, his vast corruption, and his meddling - both de jure and de facto - with Turkey's constitution and electoral law. No free election can happen under such circumstances. The trappings of voting do not make for a democracy.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#39
post #20

Erdogan's first speech was almost 2 days after the earthquake and he said "We are monitoring who said what on the social media and tried to provoke the people. Today it's not the day to go after those but we take notes and when the day comes, we will go after them". Just look at his face when delivering this speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doy38aKbMw4 It's like from V for Vendetta. The lighting choice is very…

This is one of many, many reasons why western countries and social media companies should not normalise censorship re-branded like "fighting disinformation".

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#40
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading a bit it seems to be potentially that the recommendations after the last big quake haven't been followed up properly. So basically stronger building requirements, with government validation was the plan; in reality not done (properly) and "checked" by paid companies.

My first thought on seeing some of the images was that there must be some criminal negligence involved. There is one area with 20 or so similar looking apartment buildings (about 6 levels each) where every second one has completely pancaked. I was in Christchurch, New Zealand during the 2011 earthquakes. Only 2 major building completely collapsed. One had been designed by an engineer with insufficient qualifications…

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