Turkey’s largest online community blocked again

Turkey’s largest online community blocked again
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Just hours after a court overturned an earlier ban, another court made a final decision to block Eksi Sozluk, over a request by Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority

A Turkish court on Friday again decided to block access to Turkey's largest online community Eksi Sozluk, just hours after another court lifted an earlier ban and finally confirmed the block.

After the 4th Peace Court in Ankara overturned the decision of the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) to block access to Eksi Sozluk ("Acidic Dictionary" in English), the 5th Peace Court, at the request BTK, made a final decision to block the access.

The decision to block the community had been taken following a complaint filed by the management of security affairs under the Turkish Presidency for an alleged violation of Article 8/a of Law 5651, which prescribes legal measures to protect the rights to life and property, to protect national security and public order, and to prevent crime.

Eksi Sozluk covers a wide variety of topics and people, and registered authors and users are not only expected to provide information, but are also free to comment. Eksi Sozluk was founded in 1999 and is currently the largest online community in Turkey with hundreds of thousands of users and millions of visitors.