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A comment on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in Southern Turkey. Parent comment

Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by 99052882514569 on Friday October 11, 2019 @11:22AM (#21225236)
I mean, it's next to a war zone, with tons of military hardware moving about, preparing to enter fighting. It sounds like pretty reasonable counter-intelligence (not to mention counter-propaganda) move.
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by y-c-o-m-b on Friday October 11, 2019 @11:36AM (#21225385)
They did the same thing in 2017 during the anti-corruption protests in Turkey. This is just a means to prevent atrocities on behalf of Erdogan's government and the military from leaking out into the public sphere.

EDIT: 2014 also: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26677134

> This comes after PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to "wipe out Twitter" following damaging allegations of corruption in his inner circle.

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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by throwyaway on Friday October 11, 2019 @11:42AM (#21225443)
Right now in Turkey criticizing the operation is considered "terrorist propaganda" (120+ persons already detained), as is reporting that there are victim among Syrian civilians (a few independent journalist already detained and released) any website/tv reporting negatively is being closed by the state TV watchdog. So it is not only about counter-intelligence.
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by 99052882514569 on Friday October 11, 2019 @03:23PM (#21227555)
I'm not commenting on the war, the sides taking part in it, etc. I'm merely saying that muting social media in the vicinity of troop movement is a logical move by any government engaged in a war.
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by driverdan on Friday October 11, 2019 @12:56PM (#21226177)
Blocking sites like this is never reasonable.
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by 99052882514569 on Friday October 11, 2019 @03:26PM (#21227584)
I disagree. Keeping your opponent in the 'fog of war' is a legitimate, reasonable military aim. In the olden days, radio/TV transmissions and newspaper publication was severely restricted during military operations. Today, those are largely irrelevant as news is spread on social media, so this block is the modern-era equivalent.

Note how my argument does not depend on whether we're talking about a good war, bad war, just war, evil war, etc.

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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by thelittleone on Friday October 11, 2019 @06:28PM (#21229060)
That seems like a convenient justification and minor strategic benefit rather than the real issue. This is about PR / image management and controlling the narrative. An outraged domestic and international community can limit your options (look at Hong Kong).
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by JetSpiegel on Sunday October 13, 2019 @07:24AM (#21239812)
Erdogan got a green light from Trump, who publicly accused the Kurds of not helping with Normandy landings and taking the USA's money (he never mentioned ISIS). The American government supports you, who needs PR?
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by reaperducer on Friday October 11, 2019 @04:37PM (#21228234)
Blocking sites like this is never reasonable

Turkey has a long history of blocking web sites, even in peacetime. The last time I went there, I was surprised how many web sites I couldn't access.

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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by BostonEnginerd on Friday October 11, 2019 @08:28PM (#21229611)
I recently transited through Istanbul and noticed two things:

1) You can't get an internet connection at the airport without giving up PII - either your ticket info, or your cellphone information.

2) They block Wikipedia in the airport and on the in-flight WiFi on Turkish Airlines.

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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by PrussianSteel on Friday October 11, 2019 @11:25PM (#21230447)
It’s a nationwide thing, not just a Turkish Airlines/airport block. I think Wikipedia’s been blocked for several years now.
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by lostlogin on Saturday October 12, 2019 @01:22PM (#21234697)
It has. Here is the Wikipedia entry on the block. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_of_Wikipedia_in_Turkey
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by tdb7893 on Friday October 11, 2019 @02:51PM (#21227238)
At first I was thinking that intelligence operations probably have better ways to gather and exfiltrate date but I guess now that their allies have abandoned them they might not actually have better ways to get or share info. This is one of the reasons I can't wait until there are more satellite providers. It's hopefully much harder for a country to block a bunch of satellites in LEO than terrestrial lines.
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Re:Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Restricted in S... by Consultant32452 on Friday October 11, 2019 @02:55PM (#21227280)
It's not about stopping the military, it's about stopping regular people from communicating. Don't want you posting troop positions, pictures of dead people, etc.
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