Turkish PM threatens to shut down Facebook, YouTube

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to take further steps to monitor the internet, including the closure of some social networks, media reported Friday.

"We are determined that we won't let the Turkish people be sacrificed to YouTube and Facebook," Erdogan told reporters late Thursday, stressing that the two websites were trouble-makers and would be shut down "if necessary", Xinhua reported.

His comments came just days after a leaked audio was uploaded on Youtube of Erdogan instructing his son Bilal to dispose off vast amounts of cash amid the ongoing anti-graft probe.

However, Erdogan has denied the authenticity of the recording, saying it was fabricated and was an "immoral product of montage".

The Turkish parliament approved a much-controversial Internet Law introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party earlier February.

The most controversial part of the law was empowering the head of the Telecommunications Directorate with the authority to block access to web pages within four hours. The move was widely seen as a government move to increase its control over the citizens' online activities.