Friday March 28, 2014

I've Been Thinking:

Yesterday Turkey began blocking another social media site. Now the Turkish government is shutting down YouTube. Last week Turkish President Erdogan shut down twitter.

Despite the outpouring of international and Western criticism, the site remains shuttered. I am being told that, this time, people are finding ways around the twitter shut down.

YouTube is closed after a damning and embarrassing tape of an important meeting was posted. It was a meeting between the Turkish foreign minister, the head of Turkish intelligence, the deputy head of the Army and other important diplomats and leaders. The government officials were plotting an invasion into Syria.

A leak of this sort was a clear violation of Turkish law. The tape contained plans to intervene in Syria. YouTube is a platform, it is a vehicle. Content is not evaluated, it is a place where people post.

The government of Turkey should find the person who posted the video and punish that person. YouTube as a social media platform is a great tool and it should not be closed.

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