Turkish authorities block Twitter access to stop information spreading after Suruc bombing

Turkish authorities cut off access to Twitter Inc. on Wednesday to block the spread of information about a suicide bombing that has convulsed the country and to prevent unauthorized demonstrations, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Twitter blackout just hours after a court in the southern province of Sanliurfa ordered the suppression of images and videos on Monday’s suicide bombing in Suruç, which killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 100 others. Turkish officials have blamed the attack on the Sunni Muslim extremist group Islamic State

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said the ban was triggered by the dissemination of information about the attack and calls for what it described as “illegal mass demonstrations.”

Turkey’s Internet Service Providers Association delivered court orders to Twitter, Facebook Inc. and Google Inc.’s video-sharing website, YouTube, demanding the removal of attack-related content, the news agency said.

While Facebook and YouTube quickly removed the banned content and kept operating, Twitter was unable to immediately comply with the order and shut down. The microblogging site would go back online once it does so, Turkish officials said.