Turkey hijacks traffic to DNS servers to block Twitter and YouTube

Turkish providers hijack internet traffic to foreign DNS servers to maintain the blockade of Twitter and YouTube in the country. Among other things, the providers redirect traffic to Google’s DNS servers back to Turkey.

Residents of Turkey who want to circumvent the blockade can still visit the sites via a VPN or a service like Tor, but setting a different DNS server is no longer enough in many cases. Several sites noticed the hijacking of traffic to foreign DNS servers and Google confirmed it. Earlier it was clear that setting up Google’s DNS servers no longer worked. Thanks to this measure, Turkish providers can see who changes the DNS servers to access Twitter or YouTube despite the block.

Last week it looked like the blockade ordered by a Turkish judge would soon come to an end, but with this move it looks like the Turkish government has gone one step further in the blockade. The blockade came after Twitter refused to delete some tweets about Prime Minister Erdogan. Later, the blocking of YouTube was added. Last weekend there were municipal elections in the country. Tor’s website has also been blocked.