Yesterday was nothing like a typical quiet Sunday for Turkish citizens.
Six people were killed and more than 80 injured in a bomb attack (opens in a new tab) that rocked a busy pedestrian area in central Istanbul. Occurring around 4pm local time, no one has claimed responsibility for the blast.
However, the strikes did not end offline, as The Erdoğan government also continued to limit citizens' access to the Internet.
As reported by internet watchdog NetBlocks, several social media platforms were restricted, with Turkish communications regulator RTUK even banning national media from reporting on the blast.
As always in these cases, Turkey VPN downloads have skyrocketed in the country as people searched for a way to avoid these riots.
⚠️ Confirmed: Live network data shows that social media platforms Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook are restricted in #Turkey after deadly explosion in #Taksim, Istanbul; authorities issued a broadcast ban following the incident 📰 Report: https://t.co/Xww9RgoNlu pic.twitter.com/75DMsF5QLi November 13, 2022
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What is happening in Turkey online?
“Turkey has a long-standing policy of restricting access to social media platforms after explosions, political incidents, and terrorist attacks,” NetBlocks writes in its report. "However, the policy has been criticized for limiting access to support and assistance and for restricting press freedom in emergencies."
Many social media platforms were affected, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and some Telegram servers.
The Turkish Information and Communications Technology Authority (BTK) later confirmed that the blackout was imposed to prevent misinformation about the explosion from spreading online.
“Once again, we see how governments use internet access to manipulate their citizens and control the narrative,” Hide.me CEO Sebastian Schaub told TechRadar.
However, citizens now have the technical knowledge and tools to bypass these restrictions with just a few clicks. And, when the internet goes down, the best VPN services are often the number one software to download.
This is because a VPN is not only a tool that encrypts data in transit to protect the anonymity of people online, but also spoofs users' locations so they can access censored sites without issue.
Hide.me, for example, confirmed that their VPN usage increased by 500% in the last 24 hours. While Top10VPN tracker data (opens in a new tab) shows an overall increase of over 850% in additional downloads.
After 10 long hours, access to social media services has now been restored.
What is certain is that Turkish users will keep their circumvention tool ready to use when the authorities decide to cut off their Internet access, yet again.
