Emre Peker

World Trade Organization members launched talks on how to govern global digital commerce, for the first time tackling 21st century trade issues that have sparked intense rivalry among the US, Europe and China. At stake is a global framework to regulate digital trade in goods and services, a market that is currently subject to a patchwork of different rules.

Turkey's telecom regulator signaled that it would stop blocking Twitter with government officials saying the microblogging site would soon be accessible two weeks after it was banned ahead of crucial elections.

Turkey's Telecommunications Board, or TIB, removed a court ruling from its website that had been used to justify the ban shortly after 5 p.m. local time. At 5:30 p.m., Twitter still couldn't be directly accessed, forcing users to continue seeking technical workarounds like virtual private networks. The TIB later said that the block on Twitter would be "lifted right after the necessary technical steps are taken."

The telecommunications watchdog's website still displayed court rulings blocking YouTube, in a sign that the video-sharing platform could be poised to remain inaccessible. Twitter didn't make an immediate comment on its @policy Twitter handle, but said in a tweet that it welcomed the court ruling. "We hope to have Twitter access restored in Turkey soon," the San Francisco-based company said.

Google has declined Turkish government requests to remove YouTube videos alleging government corruption, people familiar with the matter said, the latest sign of resistance to a crackdown against social media led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkish authorities have asked Google to block the videos from YouTube's Turkish website, the people familiar with the matter said. But amid a national scandal over corruption allegations, Google refused to comply because it believes the requests to be legally invalid, the people added.

Google's refusal to remove videos raises the specter that Turkey could move to block access to YouTube within the country, after blocking the microblogging service Twitter. Both sites have been central conduits for allegations of corruption against Erdogan's government and faced public threats of a blackout by Erdogan. Some people within Google had feared a YouTube blackout could be imminent, after the Twitter takedown, the people familiar with the matter said. "We feel an immediate threat," one of the people said.