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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photograph: Depo Photos/SIPA/REX
Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photograph: Depo Photos/SIPA/REX

Turkey steps up bid to block Twitter after users flout ban

This article is more than 10 years old
Move follows threats from Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would 'root out' the social media network

Turkey has stepped up its efforts to block access to Twitter after many users found ways to flout its ban. Internet service providers in the country are now blocking the addresses used by the site, making it significantly more difficult to get around the restrictions, analysts have said.

The move follows threats last week from Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would "root out" the social media network, which he claimed has been used to spread wiretapped recordings that have damaged his government's reputation.

Initially, Turkish internet service providers (ISPs) were simply redirecting traffic to a government webpage by forcing the DNS servers, which send to the correct IP addresses for the site they are trying to access, to redirect away from Twitter's homepage.

Now, however, ISPs have begun blocking the IP addresses used by Twitter themselves, according to an analysis carried out by internet monitoring firm Renesys. And a Turkish government webpage confirmed the block, citing court orders.

The move represents an escalation in the battle between the Erdogan regime and the social media network. His attempts to block the site on Thursday were derided by Turkish President Abdullah Gül, who flouted it himself.

In a series of messages posted on Twitter, he said: "The shutdown of an entire social platform is unacceptable. Besides, as I have said many times before, it is technically impossible to close down communication technologies like Twitter entirely. I hope this measure will not last long."

While more difficult, it is still technically possible to get around the ban if users can make it appear that they are accessing Twitter from outside Turkey. Twitter refused to comment, but it is understood to be aware of the development.

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