Its a family affair over in Turkey. That is that states top officials seem to be once again pitting themselves against a majority of the countrys population. Online.<\/p>\n
And this is happening in a state where top echelons of power are what you might generously call a bunch of control enthusiasts.<\/p>\n
Its an unnerving sight perhaps to those accustomed to at least a formal semblance of a separation of family and state.<\/p>\n
(Think of your president or whoever might be the top authority shuttering access to online networks just because somebody insulted a member of their family. If you just cant see it congratulations, you might actually live in a democracy.)<\/p>\n
Double your web browsing speed with today's sponsor. Get Brave.<\/p>\n
But back in Turkey President Erdogan is fighting political opponents trying to provoke him on the internet. And according to reports they seem to be very much so succeeding.<\/p>\n
Namely, Turkeys president and his authorities are fending off devilish social media users by imposing internet censorship and likely real-world consequences, such as jail time, as a legitimate way to protect Erdogans family honor.<\/p>\n
The triggering event is also where the plot thickens. Turkeys finance minister, Berat Albayrak who conveniently happens to be Erdogans son-in-law on Tuesday took to Twitter to announce that he and one of Erdogans daughters had just welcomed their fourth child.<\/p>\n
But some internet users understood this as a cue to question the paternity of the child. Likely just for the lols.<\/p>\n
Well instead of taking it that way the sequence of events sent Turkey a NATO member and EU-membership candidate into yet another digital censorship tailspin.<\/p>\n
As per Turkeys president:<\/p>\n
We will keep chasing these cowards who attack a family and the values they believe represented by them through a baby.<\/p>\n
That said many of us born into totalitarian\/cult-of-personality regimes are capable of sniffing them out as soon as we set our eyes on them and this further quote from Erdogan happens to be very unsettling:<\/p>\n
These platforms do not suit this country. We want these platforms to be banned, taken under control.<\/p>\n
And Erdogan is warning that new legislation might be adopted that would force (Western) tech companies registered in the country to become legally accountable to Ankara as business entities.<\/p>\n
But lets just wait as the likes of Facebook, YouTube, etc, are probably doing just now and see how all this verbal bravado actually translates into any real-world action.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\nTurkeys Erdogan plans to censor the internet after family member insulted online - Reclaim The Net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"