Yesterday was an unusual and quiet Sunday for Turkish citizens.
Six people died and more than 80 were injured after a bomb attack (Opens in a new tab) It shook a crowded pedestrian area in the center of Istanbul. The explosion occurred at around 4 p.m. local time, and no one has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.
But the strikes are not over offline The Erdoğan government also continued to stifle citizens’ access to the Internet.
As reported by internet watchdog NetBlocks, many social media platforms have been restricted, with even Turkish telecoms regulator RTUK banning national media from reporting on the explosion.
As always, in these cases, Turkey VPN Downloads skyrocketed within the country as people were looking for a way to bypass such disruptions.
⚠️ Confirmed: Live network data shows social media platforms Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook have been restricted in #Turkey following a deadly explosion in #Taksim, Istanbul; Authorities issued a broadcast ban after the incident Report: https://t.co/Xww9RgoNlu pic.twitter.com/75DMsF5QLiNovember 13, 2022
What is happening in Turkey on the Internet?
NetBlocks wrote in its report: “Turkey has a longstanding policy of restricting access to social media platforms after explosions, political incidents, and terrorist attacks.” Report. However, the policy has been criticized for restricting access to support and assistance, and for curtailing press freedom in times of emergency.
A lot of social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and some Telegram servers were affected.
Turkey’s Information and Communications Technology Authority (BTK) later confirmed that the blackout was imposed to prevent disinformation about the blast from being spread online.
Once again, we see how governments use internet access to manipulate their citizens and control the narrative. hide me CEO Sebastian Schwab told TechRadar.
However, citizens now have the technical knowledge and tools to circumvent these restrictions with just a few clicks. And when the internet goes dark, the BestVPN Services are generally the first program to be downloaded.
This is because a VPN Not only is it a tool that encrypts data in transit to protect people’s anonymity online, but it also spoofs users’ location so that they can access censored websites without any fuss.
Hide.me, for example, confirmed that its VPN usage has increased by a staggering 500% over the past 24 hours. While the data comes from Top10VPN tracker (Opens in a new tab) It shows an overall rise in downloads of more than 850%.
After 10 long hours, access to social media services is now restored.
What is certain is that Turkish users will keep their circumvention tool ready to use when the authorities decide to disable their internet access again.
