Turkey's Citizens Turn to VPN Technology to Overcome Widespread Censorship Ahead of Election, BestVPN.com Reports

LIVERPOOL, England, June 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

BestVPN.com has seen a 131% increase in Turkish traffic in the past 24 hours

In the lead up to Turkey's snap election, frustration is growing over widespread digital censorship by the ruling AKP party.

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On June 24, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to secure a second term in what has become a widely contested election. Voting will be held in the midst of an ongoing state of emergency.

With the ruling AKP party controlling 90 percent of Turkey's news distribution channels, online platforms have become one of the few ways to express political dissent and to organize opposition. They have also become invaluable tools for circulating news suppressed by the mainstream media, and for providing alternative narratives to the pro-government news which is reported.

In March, Erdogan's AKP government passed a new law which requires all online streaming and digital TV services to register with Turkey's RTUK media watchdog and to obey the same restrictive rules that apply to terrestrial TV broadcasters. Five of RTUK's nine governing council members are direct government appointees, resulting in accusations that the AKP is attempting to silence online opposition in advance of the elections.

The law applies to both foreign and domestic news services, which can be blocked and fined if they do not register. Turkey has shown no compunction against ordering ISPs to block international web platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter or shutting the Internet down in the lead up to politically sensitive accounts.

As a result, political opposition parties, journalists and citizens are in increasingly turning to VPN technology to bypass Internet censorship. BestVPN.com has seen a 131% increase in traffic to its VPN guides for Turkish citizens in the past 24 hours.

"Erdogan is a famous strongman who is not the kind to take any chances," commented Douglas Crawford, cyberprivacy expert at BestVPN.com. "Winning this election will give him unprecedented authority to tighten his grip on power for the foreseeable future. As his current blatant attempts to silence all criticism in the press shows, Turkey's future as a democratic nation hangs in the balance."

Notes for Editors 

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