Twitter, Facebook, YouTube blocked in Turkey

The Turkish government apparently blocked social media sites Facebook, Twitter and YouTube briefly in response to an attempted military coup, a media report said.

Turkey Blocks, a Twitter account that regularly checks if sites were being blocked in the country, reported at 11.04 p.m., that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were all unresponsive, TechCrunch reported.

Access was restored after about an hour-and-a-half, according to the research agency Dyn Research.

A chaotic night began late Friday with reports of soldiers trying to take control of bridges and key areas in major cities. Later, army helicopters began airstrikes and shelled key locations in the capital, Ankara. So far, 754 have been detained in the coup attempt

Twitter's policy team, however, said it did not think the site was fully blocked in Turkey.

"We suspect there is an intentional slowing of our traffic in country," Twitter said in a statement.

Twitter's livestreaming app Periscope and Facebook Live appeared unaffected, broadcasting several livestreams from Istanbul.

Facebook did not provide a statement on the reported blocks.

"We are aware of reports that YouTube is down in Turkey, however, our systems seem to be functioning normally," a YouTube spokesperson told TechCrunch.

At least 60 people were killed during overnight clashes.

--IANS

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