Turkey Blocks Twitter, Threatens to 'Eradicate' It

In Turkish Prime Minister's Recep Tayyip Erdogan's latest feud with social media, Twitter access has been blocked and he has threatened to entirely wipe out the service. "We now have a court order. We'll eradicate Twitter. I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish Republic," he fumed at a campaign rally yesterday, the Hurriyet Daily News reports. Erdogan has been enraged in recent weeks by leaked recordings and documents revealing corruption in his inner circle, the BBC notes.

Turkish users trying to access Twitter are being redirected to a statement from the country's telecommunication regulator that cites court orders against the site, although Twitter has posted a message telling users how to keep accessing the site via SMS, reports Al Jazeera. Erdogan—who blasted Twitter as a "scourge" after it was used to organize protests last summer—has also threatened to ban Facebook and YouTube, which was banned in the country until 2010 because of videos deemed "insulting to Turkishness." (More Turkey stories.)