EU and U.S. officials have been quick to react to the Turkish government’s move to shut down Twitter, despite Erdoğan’s earlier statements that he “did not care what the international community would say.”
The EU commissioner for digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, tweeted that the block in Turkey “is groundless, pointless, cowardly.” She added that the “Turkish people and international community will see this as censorship. It is.”
EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle also tweeted that the new move created “grave concern.” “Gravely concerned by blocked twitter – being free to communicate and freely choose the means to do it is fundamental EU value,” Füle posted.
The Council of Europe, meanwhile, is examining the legal basis of the ban, according to its spokesperson, Daniel Holtgen. “Twitter BLANKET ban in #Turkey is contrary to ECHR freedom of expression. CoE examining legal basis,” Holtger tweeted.
The U.S. State Department also voiced its “increasing concern” regarding freedoms in Turkey.
“We remain very concerned by any suggestion that social media sites could be shut down,” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a written statement provided to Turkish journalists. “Democracies are strengthened by the diversity of public voices,” she added.