Turkey's Prime Minister Wants to Ban the 'Scourge' of Social Media

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that, should he win local elections this month, he may ban social media sites including Facebook and Youtube.

It’s the latest, and perhaps most severe, sign of the Turkish government’s efforts to stem online dissent, after they passed a harsh “internet law” last month that seemed firmly aimed at silencing protesters and covering up corruption. As cyberwar tactics are underway in Ukraine, this is yet another example of technology being used as a tool of oppression, and a reminder of how much unrestricted internet access has become a major indicator of what we consider to be a free and democratic society.

According to news reports, Erdoğan yesterday told Turkish channel ATV that he was determined to take steps against social media, which he's previously called a "scourge" and the "worst menace to society." It's just been reported that Turkish president Abdullah Gül has said that closing the sites is "out of the question," though he added that material on them could be blocked under the recent law if it "violated someone's privacy." Either way, Erdoğan's intention to continue censoring the web is clear.

The recent action is all tied to an ongoing corruption scandal in the country. The prime minister claims that his political rivals are responsible for sharing “fabricated” recordings online that reveal corruption in the highest ranks of the government, and which implicate him and his son, Bilal.

Incriminating audio recordings went viral at the end of last year, and more are coming out. Reuters reports that in the latest, which appeared on Youtube last night, Erdoğan is allegedly heard telling a newspaper owner to sack reporters over a story they wrote—bad news for press freedom. Suggestions of bribery and other undemocratic goings-on have also come out of the tapes, and Businessweek yesterday wrote that a new threat may emerge in the form of covertly filmed videos.

But not if Erdoğan can help it. “We are determined on this subject. We will not leave this nation at the mercy of YouTube and Facebook," he told ATV, and gave an affirmative response when asked if this might include a ban. In light of Gül's statement on the issue, an outright ban looks less likely— but it’s not hard to believe that Erdoğan would follow through; he has form on such measures.

In 2007, Turkey blocked Youtube for more than two years over videos insulting former Turkish president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Vimeo was blocked for a while last year, and thousands of websites are generally inaccessible. A Google transparency report shows the many requests the search engine has had to remove search results (most of which they did not act upon), including “any search results linking to information about a political official and sex scandals.”

Of course, it seems likely that any kind of ban on social media would fail to achieve its goals and totally block people from accessing information they want to see. We’ve seen it time and again; efforts to quash web freedom are largely ineffective owing to circumventive methods like proxies and VPNs. When Turkey blocked Youtube the last time, Freedom House reported that it was still the eighth most active site in the country.

What a ban could do, however, is further ignite tensions in the country. After the controversial internet law was passed in February, protesters took to the streets in demonstrations that soon resulted in violent clashes with the police.

Erdoğan has recognised the role of social media in anti-government protests (in fact, he pretty much blamed the recent Turkish unrest on Twitter), but if he continues to provoke protesters with further oppressive internet rules, for now he's only poised to see more of what a “menace” and a “scourge” it can be.