What is internet censorship?
Internet censorship is the process by which officials or individuals regulate or suppress what may be accessed, published, or watched on the Internet. Internet censorship imposes limits on the kind of material that may or may not be posted on the internet.
Internet censorship in Turkey
Turkey has increased its control over Internet access in recent years, as ordered by the government. They moved from Moderate to Severe Censorship in 2016 that caused social media shutdowns, TOR and VPN restrictions, and Regional Internet Blackouts.
Numerous websites, mostly social networking, file sharing, and streaming services, have been blocked in order to “protect the Turkish people from lies and disinformationâ€, the government stated.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan approved various internet filtering regulations, including one that requires Social Media Firms with over a million users to have legal representation and keep data in the country. Significant companies such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have subsequently established offices in Turkey to maintain operations.
One notable example of internet censorship in Turkey occurred from 2017 to 2020, when Wikipedia was blocked.
When did Internet Blocking start to rise in Turkey?Â
Internet censorship in Turkey increased after the Gezi protests, however the Turkish government started ramping up internet censorship in 2007 with the stated purpose of cleaning the internet of offensive material such as pornographic files. In recent years, the Turkish government increased the number of blocked websites by more than 61,000.
Is It Possible to Bypass Internet censorship?
There are several methods for circumventing internet censorship, but the most common and easy one is to use a VPN. A user who is subjected to internet censorship can establish a secure connection to a more permissive country and browse the internet as if they were physically present in that country. Certain services are subscription-based, while others are ad-supported. Unseen Online Unlimited VPN is a 100% free, ad-supported VPN service for Android and iOS devices that allows you to access blocked websites and browse securely and anonymously.
Unseen Online can let you connect to VPN servers for FREE and without hassle. Simply download the app and connect to the server of your choice; there is no need to register or log in.
VPNs have long been a viable option for accessing websites that are prohibited in some regions.
