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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

#61

Post by college_physics »

bloaf wrote: post #29

There is/was an active disinformation campaign on Twitter attempting to link the earthquake to Türkiye denying Nato expansion. The ridiculous conspiracy theory is that the US used a HAARP system to cause the earthquake in retaliation. Not saying that's the reason for the ban, but twitter is not solely a force for good here.

Maybe the US used mind control to force (over several decades) Turkish contractors to build house-of-cards on top of a major tectonic plate fracture line?

But indeed our comms/social channels are just a mess - that we pay for dearly when real suffering hits us.

We knew that much from the pandemic already.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#62

Post by bilbo0s »

golergka wrote: post #39
mrtksn wrote: 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".

You're being naive.

This has happened because 'western countries and social media companies ... normalise censorship re-branded [as] "fighting disinformation"'.

They've literally shown the rest of the world how to do this.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#63

Post by gumby »

anticensor wrote: post #36
rayiner wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Decades ago one of my profs described his voting experience in the USSR: they had a completely private (“Australian”) voting system where you picked up a ballot, entered a private voting booth, filled out the ballot, then deposited it in the urn.

Or you could pick up a ballot pre-filled-in with the straight communist ticket to save time and just put it straight in the urn. Naturally anyone in the room could see which you chose.

Perhaps more amusingly: he was an exchange student at the time (late 60s?). Because communism was a universal movement anyone could vote, so he thought, “well why not while I have the chance?”

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#64

Post by scythe »

RobinUS2 wrote: post #9
jonasdegendt wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not up to date on how the Turkish government is handling this but I'm willing to bet it has something to do with how they're not doing a great job at proving aid to the affected region, and they're trying to contain that information to save face.

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.

It's worth noting in context that Erodgan is heavily involved in the Turkish real estate industry:

https://www.duvarenglish.com/amp/president-erdogan-the-world...

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#65

Post by halilb »

I live in Turkey and was very close to the earthquake epicenter. I can say that communication in affected cities is very limited and Twitter had a real positive effect on organizing help and reaching out to lots of people in the area.

So blocking Twitter right now is pure evil. They are only interested in the optics and looking strong for the upcoming election and do not care about anything else.

I saw some people waiting for their relatives to get rescued around collapsed buildings dare to say that they haven't received any official help so far in the news. And they said that "government can come and arrest me for saying this - so be it". I don't think the Turkish government is reading HN but still feeling a little bit anxious while posting this after witnessing so many weird things here.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#66

Post by brian_cloutier »

remind_me_again wrote: post #42
rayiner wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's a very subjective judgement and everyone is entitled his or her own opinion. But that one is very biased. As far as elections concerned Turkish election system is very solid as a process and implementation is solid. In the end Erdogan lost Istanbul in the last elections even after that election repeated for only Istanbul, and worse for Erdogan, the second round was much more decisive. People didn't like the elec…

To give everyone an idea of how solid the process is: consider that the opposition candidate widely considered most capable of beating the incumbent president was recently sentenced to two years in jail and removed from politics on the weakest of pretenses: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Ekrem_%C4%B0mamo%C4...

Here are a few other biased sources offering their subjective judgements:

- https://freedomhouse.org/country/turkey/freedom-world/2022

- https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/turkeys-local-elections-wer...

- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud_and_violence...

- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index

- https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/report/turkey/december...

This is not to say that Turkey is full autocracy: the incubent president has a genuinely large amount of support and it's quite possible they would win a free and fair election. However, the upcoming election will not be free and fair as those terms are commonly understood.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#68

Post by PM_me_your_math »

golergka wrote: post #39
mrtksn wrote: 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".

These companies are already in the dark deep of hyper partisan censorship. Take reddit for example. Nearly every sub is a left wing echo chamber, with essentially the same comment being made, and opposing viewpoints hidden, shadow-banned, or deleted under the guise of 'disinformation' even if they are factually accurate. Some of it is partly driven by liaisons within US and other governments, and supported by media. That is both problematic and terrorizing. Media was always supposed to be a counter-balance to government over-reach, but today, media is in on the scheme.

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#69

Post by colpabar »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #55
boredumb wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a fool. He should have said he was fighting earthquake misinformation in order to preserve the rich democracy of turkey.

Why does this make Erdogan a fool? edit: I legitimately have no idea why I am being downvoted. Can someone explain?

Because when western leaders want to censor information, they claim said information is a "threat to democracy", and everyone just trusts them. (not that it would work - it seems like turkish people actually know how to protest)

Re: Twitter restricted in Turkey in aftermath of earthquake

#70

Post by coffeeblack »

saiya-jin wrote: post #57

This is playbook of scumbag tyrants, doesn't matter if Putin, Erdogan or similar. I for sure hope EU politicians are taking a note too, there are 2 existential threats to democratic free Europe long term - Russia and Turkey. Both have same ambitions, are on completely opposite side of all crucial values free world holds dear. Luckily their competence severely lags behind their ambitions, to think Turkey was for some…

You are underestimating the threat that CCP China is, not just to Europe but to the entire world.
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