How can a government turn off Twitter?

Calls to “shut down Twitter” don’t only come from prime ministers facing corruption allegations: during the 2011 riots former MP Louise Mensch suggested the same thing.

British comms companies insisted it wasn’t possible here. So how can it be done in Turkey?

Well it helps if one company has a near-monopoly on broadband connections. Turk Telecom is a former state monopoly that is still 30 per cent owned by the Turkish government. It has 7.1 million broadband subscribers, meaning it controls pretty much every high-speed connection in the country.

As the dominant internet service provider, Turk Telecom can simply add Twitter to its list of blocked websites, and that’s it: every fixed-line internet user in the country is barred from one of the world’s largest social networks.

Turkey is meant to have a deregulated communications market, so why is Turk Telecom the only player?

Well, the regulator BTK actually leaves policy control to the Turkish Communications Ministry, and with a prime minister who’s so vociferous in his criticism of social media, it would be a brave minister who suggests opening up the comms space to more competitors.

It’s easy to see why Prime Minister Erdogan is so keen to block Twitter: it’s been the source of continuing corruption allegations against him. His forces cleared protesters from Gezi Park and Taksim Square last year – it’s tempting to believe the internet can be as easily controlled.

Unfortunately for him, it is in the internet’s DNA to route traffic around obstructions, and Twitter is no exception.

Users of the site can simply text their comments which will then emerge as tweets. And since Turk Telecom has only 13 million mobile customers in a phone-obsessed country of 74 million, it leaves a gaping hole for dissenting opinions.

Follow @geoffwhite247 on Twitter