Media firm Today's Zaman from Istanbul reported that Twitter has been banned in Turkey. However, the social media giant offered an alternative way for Turkish users to send Tweets, wrote VentureBeat.
Twitter's instruction for the SMS workaround reads: "Turkish users: you can send Tweets using SMS. Avea and Vodafone text START to 2444. Turkcell text START to 2555."
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier threatened to "wipe out" all social media networks in the country. He said this in response to Twitter and YouTube posts that linked him to a corruption issue. The incident has now become a hot topic as the country approaches the March 30 election, TechCrunch explained.
In 2011, Twitter was blocked in Egypt in connection with political issues. The social media site was also involved in a similar situation in Pakistan in 2012 and another one in China in 2009. Additionally, the French government has been struggling with the influence that the network has on its citizens and is working on gaining authority to take down posts that violate the country's laws, the report detailed.
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