YouTube appeals to Turkey's Constitutional Court over ban

YouTube has appealed to Turkey's Constitutional Court to lift a ban the government slapped on the video-sharing service after audio of a top-level security meeting was posted on the site. The appeal asks the court to "immediately" lift the ban on the site, a source familiar with the case told AFP Monday on condition of anonymity. The government ordered YouTube blocked on March 27 after an audio recording appeared on it, allegedly of top-level security talks on Syria. A court in the capital Ankara on Friday lifted the government decision, saying a blanket ban violated human rights and instead limiting the restriction to 15 videos. But the court later reversed itself, saying the block would remain in place until the audio recordings of the offending security meeting was removed from the website. The ban on YouTube was among a wider crackdown on social media ahead of March 30th local elections by the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has vowed to "wipe out" Twitter. The government blocked Twitter on March 20, but the Constitutional Court lifted the ban on Thursday. AFP