ANKARA, Turkey, Jan. 26 (UPI) — Facebook has decided to block a page that insults the Prophet Mohammed after receiving a court order in Turkey.
“These companies might be US-based but their users are global – they have to respect local traditions and customs,” cybersecurity expert Alan Woodward {link:told the BBC: “http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30982556″,nw}. He said the company has to obey foreign laws, and it is mostly important they are transparent about such situations. “There’s danger in a government censoring what people in a country see, so the people deserve to know if something is being censored,” he said.
A Turkish court decided to ban all websites featuring the cover of the Charlie Hebdo magazine with the Prophet on it {link:earlier in January: “http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/14/charlie-hebdo-turkey-block-web-pages-front-cover-muhammad”,nw}.
The country was threatening to remove access to all of Facebook in Turkey if the social media company did not comply with its requests.
Members of Turkish government have previously {link:threatened to ban: “http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26480982″,nw} the website because of people posting things critical of the government.