Turkey faces legal troubles over Twitter ban

A press organization and two experts in Internet law filed two challenges against Turkey’s Twitter ban on Monday. The Turkish Journalists’ Association, the country’s largest with 3,300 members, filed a complaint in an Ankara court, while two Internet lawyers challenged the ban at the Constitutional Court of Turkey, as first reported by The New York Times.

Turkey’s leading press organization and two experts in Internet law took legal action Monday to try to overturn a government ban on Twitter, even as the government intensified its efforts to block access to the social media site. The organization, the Turkish Journalists’ Association, which represents 3,300 journalists, filed a complaint in a local Ankara court, arguing that the ban violated freedom of information protected by the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. Using a similar argument to challenge the ban’s legality, two lawyers specializing in Internet regulation filed a case at the Constitutional Court of Turkey, which has the authority to revoke the ban.