Let me briefly sum up what I have written in Turkish. I was invited to a meeting today with the Twitter team that visits Turkey and holds government-level talks. It looks like pro-AKP media continued to create misinformation…
* No Twitter office to be opened in Turkey soon. Decision to open an office is based on economic analyses and this is not the case for Turkey yet. Especially after the ban. Twitter works with a local agency, and the latter already pays its taxes from Twitter ad sales.
* Government officials want to get in touch with Twitter officials without the timezone hassle. In this case, Twitter has a local lawyer and also the office in Ireland is nearly in the timezone.
* Explanation for the ban by Turkish officials are some court orders. NOT the taxation issue. Twitter officials explains that users can directly complain without any court orders. If there is still a court order, then the content is held on that particular country but not worldwide. Turkish officials did not seem to have cared these explanations and insisted on court orders.
* Twitter promises to give no personal data to Turkish government. Content can be censored due to local court orders but no data given. Turkish government can apply to US courts, as Twitter servers are located there but still no guarantee of personal data to be given…
* Twitter team is in Turkey to have conversation with sides in charge but NOT for negotiations…
Older news:
Turkey and Twitter find ?common ground?
Hurriyet Daily News
Twitter officials have met Turkish President Gül?s advisers following comprehensive talks in Ankara. ?Common ground? has been found, according to the semi-official Anadolu Agency
Turkey accuses Twitter of “tax evasion”, calls for local office
Yahoo news
Turkey urged executives from Twitter (TWTR.N) to open an office and start paying Turkish tax on Monday in the first direct talks since a two-week ban imposed on the site as the government battled a corruption scandal. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government blocked Twitter and YouTube (GOOGL.O) in March, drawing international condemnation, after audio recordings, purportedly showing .
Twitter executives in Turkey for meeting with gov?t officials
Hurriyet Daily News
Executives from Twitter have arrived in Ankara to meet officials from the Turkish government, public broadcaster TRT Türk reported April 14
Social media bans darken Turkey?s prospects
FT.com – World, Europe
The decision by the government to ban Twitter and YouTube has a deeper impact that goes beyond the companies that are directly affected
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