Turkey blocks Twitter over graft recordings

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey blocked access to Twitter today after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “rip out the roots” of the social network where links have proliferated to recordings that appear to incriminate him and other top officials in corruption.

Turkey in the past blocked access to YouTube, but it is the first ban on Twitter, which is hugely popular in the country and was instrumental in organizing flash protests against the government last year.

Uproar over the recordings has damaged the government’s reputation ahead of local elections this month.