Turkey is reportedly blocking access to Twitter following devastating earthquakes

Almost 12,000 people have died in Turkey and Syria since the earthquake struck on Monday.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk in a tweet said Twitter has been informed by Turkey’s government that access will be re-enabled shortly to the social media platform. Twitter has been restricted in Turkey, the Netblocks internet observatory earlier said, just two days after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 11,500 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria.

“Twitter has been informed by the Turkish government that access will be reenabled shortly,” Elon Musk tweeted.

On the restriction on Twitter, netblocks.org social media monitor said that the social media website was being restricted “on multiple internet providers in Turkey”.

“Turkey has an extensive history of social media restrictions during national emergencies and safety incidents,” the monitor said.

The restrictions reportedly came after Turkish people used the social media platform to highlight the failures of Turkey’s government response following the earthquake and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s role in the same. Turkish social media was flooded with remarks from users who were disappointed with the search and rescue operations in their areas. Following this, over a dozen people have been imprisoned for criticising the President, reports claimed.