A significant technical issue today has left the majority of, if not all users unable to post new tweets, send retweets, send direct messages or use the platform TweetDeck. This glitch has caused Twitter users to get a message saying they are over their daily tweet limit, leaving most users to flock to other social media sites (Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon, PostNews) to complain. The usual cap for the number of tweets average users can send is around 1,000 per day or 100 per hour & everyone seems to confirm they had not published anywhere near the number of tweets that would put them at the rate limit.
At the same time Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an attempt to control the media narrative surrounding mismanagement of the earthquake, has ordered ISP in Turkey to completely block access to social media sites like; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. The public has come to rely on social media for rescue efforts in the aftermath of a series of catastrophic earthquakes & journalists trying to cover the earthquake are facing bans, investigations, & even detentions as Erdogan wages war on “disinformation.”
There have been reports that journalists in Turkey are being prevented from even photographing the collapsed buildings & rubble on orders from the “Disaster & Emergency Management Presidency, AFAD.” One Journalist was taken into custody for taking photos of destroyed areas around a hospital “without permission,” one Journalist was detained over tweets that were critical about the government’s failure to deliver assistance to several devastated areas, & more egregious violations of journalist's rights have been reported as well.
As of writing there is atleast 12,000 Turkish citizens dead, an assumed estimate find that the final count will likely be over 30,000. A three month state of emergency was declared on Tuesday as well, & the “Directorate of Communications at the Turkish Presidency” unveiled an app Tuesday in which people can report alleged “fake news & disinformation.”
Disaster photo rights: EPA-EFE/REFIK TEKIN