Reuters: Turkish competition board says fines Elon Musk over Twitter takeover. “The Turkish Competition Board said on Monday it had decided to fine billionaire Elon Musk 0.1% of Twitter’s gross income in Turkey in 2022, as his takeover of the company occurred without the board’s permission.”
Bianet: Türkiye sentences a journalist under ‘disinformation law’ for first time. “Sinan Aygül had tweeted about allegations of child abuse against security, but deleted the tweets a few hours later, apologizing for sharing unconfirmed information.”
AFP: Turkish internet bites back at state after deadly quake. “Nothing is ever deleted or forgotten on the internet. Turkish officials learned that the hard way when grieving users began sharing old tweets and videos embarrassing for the government after last week’s disastrous earthquake.” Do you remember that in 2016, the Turkish government seized the newspaper with the widest national circulation and deleted its archives? I wrote an article about it. But it’s a lot harder to delete social media.
KERA: Fans of Turkish dramas refocus social media obsessions on helping victims of earthquakes . “On any given day, fans of Turkish dramas are busy tweeting about the latest plot twist in their favorite show or casting news of their favorite actor. But the devastation in Turkey and Syria caused by two strong earthquakes has prompted fans to use social media to raise awareness of the needs in both countries.”
ARY News: Turkey Arrests 78 Over Earthquake Social Media Posts . “Turkish police said they have arrested 78 people accused of creating fear and panic by ‘sharing provocative posts’ about last week’s earthquake on social media, adding 20 of them were being held in pre-trial detention.”
Foreign Policy: Turkey Tests Elon Musk’s Grasp of Twitter. “Ankara has never shied away from muzzling critics and the media, and analysts are concerned that the recent blocking of Twitter is a sign of government steps to silence political discourse ahead of highly anticipated elections scheduled for May—and that Twitter may be holding the leash.”
Daily Sabah: Turkish researchers use AI to read cuneatic Hittite tablets. “For the first time, 1,954 ancient Hittite tablets are being read with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) thanks to a project implemented in Türkiye. When the translation part is completed, the cuneatic clay tablets will be put on display for the public in the Hittite Digital Library scheduled to open soon.”
Global Voices: In Turkey, social media platforms become complicit in censoring media and freedom of speech . “Twitter unveiled a tool that allows it to censor content on a country basis in 2010. At the time, the platform may not have completely envisaged how its tool could be abused by a number of increasingly authoritarian countries where social media platforms have been targeted by the authorities in the face of growing crackdowns and censorship. In fact, one of the Turkish government’s tactics to silence users on the internet and deny them their right to access information, is submitting requests to Twitter and other platforms to withhold content deemed in violation of its local laws.”
Cyprus Mail: Sharing the secrets and treasures of Famagusta. “The Famagusta New Museum (FNM) project, created by the Pierides Foundation and the community space KP10, is based around the online museum, which acts as a kind of lost and found platform; a repository where people who lived in and have memories from Famagusta will be able to upload photographs and materials to share with the wider public.” I did not know about the “ghost town” of Famagusta in Cyprus. Business Insider has an overview here.
Euronews: Turkish MP smashes phone with hammer in furious speech over social media law. “Opposition politicians in Turkey expressed their fury at a law passed by Turkey’s parliament on Thursday which critics claim will further tighten press and social media freedoms in the country. In a surprising act of protest, opposition MP Burak Erbay smashed his mobile phone with a hammer during a speech to the National Assembly to denounce the bill which claims to combat fake news and ‘online disinformation’.”
Hackread: APT Groups Trapping Targets with Clever Twitter Scheme. “According to researchers, state-backed [Advanced Persistent Threat] groups are trapping their targets by employing social engineering tactics including posing as Twitter employees and journalists.”
Rest of World: “Hostage-taking laws” seem to be fueling a Twitter crackdown in India. “Increasingly popular around the world, ‘hostage-taking laws,’ are government mandates that require social media companies to have physical offices and employees in the countries where they operate. In addition to India, these laws have been put in place in Nigeria, Turkey, and Vietnam. Observers say that Twitter’s recent takedowns in India highlight how governments leverage these laws and create a regulatory environment with higher-stakes penalties, which makes it easier to demand companies to censor the speech of journalists and dissidents.”
Daily Sabah: New database offers insight into 802 historical seals. “Carrying out works on various elements of manuscripts, the Presidency of Turkey Manuscripts Institution (TYEKB) has prepared a new database on seals for researchers and history enthusiasts. With the seal database, TYEKB aims to present the data of all seals that the manuscripts and printed works in its collections feature with their images and detailed evaluations. The platform also intends to analyze data on seals and publish research articles prepared by experts on the subject.”
CNN: Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and wife test positive for Covid-19. “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife, Emine, have tested positive for Covid-19. Erdogan said on Twitter that the couple had contracted the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and were experiencing mild symptoms.”
Daily Sabah: 40 arrested in Twitch corruption probe in Turkey. “Demirören News Agency (DHA) reported that some suspects had collaborated with streamers who were aware that the bit payments were made using stolen credit cards and took their share. Bits cannot be converted to actual money but the scammers are accused of getting payment in actual money from streamers in exchange of huge troves of bits they sent. The scheme was allegedly used for money laundering by criminal groups.”
The ResearchBuzz Firehose is regular RB content presented as individual posts.
For digest-type posts a couple of times a day, please visit ResearchBuzz.
Want to know how to best use the Firehose for content discovery?
Check out this handy article.