Turkey Regulator Says It Will Unblock Twitter

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.