Turkey bans Facebook app

Insults to Ataturk not welcome

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Government, 25th March 2008 11:37 GMT

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Turkey has banned access to Slide, a presentation application, for hosting offensive content.

Slide is one of the most popular applications on Facebook. According to the company's blog it was accused of "harboring pictures and articles that are considered to be insulting to Ataturk". Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the founder of modern Turkey, and insults against him are considered an attack on "Turkishness".

The company said it was trying to contact the Turkish government to resolve the situation. It said: "In the meantime, we're trying our best to enable Turkish citizens to access our website and applications again."

Turkey has blocked access to YouTube several times before for hosting content deemed offensive to the republic, with the state taking a particularly dim view of slights against Ataturk.

Slide's blog is here. ®

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