James Delahunty
26 Jun 2013 17:56
The Turkish authorities want Twitter to setup a representative office inside the country, after it singled out the service for aiding weeks of anti-government protests.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has referred to Twitter as a "scourge" that is used to spread lies about the government with the goal of terrorizing society in the country.
"We have told all social media that ... if you operate in Turkey you must comply with Turkish law," Transport and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim, told reporters.
"When information is requested, we want to see someone in Turkey who can provide this ... there needs to be an interlocutor we can put our grievance to and who can correct an error if there is one."
Reuters cites an unnamed official as saying Twitter had been asked to identify users who posted messages deemed insulting to the government or the Prime Minister.
Facebook voiced concerns about proposals that would see Internet firms being obliged to hand over data more frequently, and denied that it has provided any user data to the Turkish authorities.