AFP
With anti-government protests sweeping across Turkey, the authorities have used all technological means to try to curb them, from restricting internet access to using facial recognition to identify protesters, who have been forced to adapt.
Amid a ban on protests, nearly 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations that erupted on March 19 following the detention of Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on graft charges.
As well as those apprehended in the streets, many others have been arrested in pre-dawn raids at their homes after being identified from footage or photos taken by the police during the demonstrations.
So far, 13 Turkish journalists have been detained for covering the protests, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, who was charged with "taking part in illegal rallies and marches" on the basis of images shot by the police.
For Orhan Sener, a digital technologies expert, the use of technology marks a major departure from 2013, when a small protest against plans to demolish Gezi Park in central Istanbul snowballed into a wave of national unrest over the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time.
"The security forces' information technology capabilities have increased considerably since then," Sener said.
"During the Gezi movement, the protesters dominated social networks and the police weren't able to identify them," he said.
"But today, when you join a demonstration in Turkey, your face is recognised by a camera and the system cross-references it with your profile on social networks."
Faces masked
Faced with such a risk, many demonstrators are now covering their heads and faces with hats, masks and scarves.
In Istanbul, police have frequently surrounded protesters and ordered them to uncover their faces so they can be filmed, refusing to let them go if they do not, generating widespread distress for many young people, AFP correspondents said.
"Every means of pressure generates a countermeasure. We will soon see greater use of different clothing, glasses or make-up to thwart facial recognition technologies," said Arif Kosar, who specialises in the impact of new technologies.
"But I don't think facial recognition technology is the main source of pressure today. The use of disinformation to smear the protests, or neutralise and divide them, plays a more important role," he said.
Erdogan has denounced the protests as "street terror", accusing participants of "vandalising" a mosque and a cemetery, charges the opposition has denied.
"Authoritarian regimes now know how to use the internet to their advantage. They have found ways of censoring it," Sener said.
"But above all, they use it for their own propaganda."
Amid a ban on protests, nearly 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations that erupted on March 19 following the detention of Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on graft charges.
As well as those apprehended in the streets, many others have been arrested in pre-dawn raids at their homes after being identified from footage or photos taken by the police during the demonstrations.
So far, 13 Turkish journalists have been detained for covering the protests, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, who was charged with "taking part in illegal rallies and marches" on the basis of images shot by the police.
For Orhan Sener, a digital technologies expert, the use of technology marks a major departure from 2013, when a small protest against plans to demolish Gezi Park in central Istanbul snowballed into a wave of national unrest over the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time.
"The security forces' information technology capabilities have increased considerably since then," Sener said.
"During the Gezi movement, the protesters dominated social networks and the police weren't able to identify them," he said.
"But today, when you join a demonstration in Turkey, your face is recognised by a camera and the system cross-references it with your profile on social networks."
Faces masked
Faced with such a risk, many demonstrators are now covering their heads and faces with hats, masks and scarves.
In Istanbul, police have frequently surrounded protesters and ordered them to uncover their faces so they can be filmed, refusing to let them go if they do not, generating widespread distress for many young people, AFP correspondents said.
"Every means of pressure generates a countermeasure. We will soon see greater use of different clothing, glasses or make-up to thwart facial recognition technologies," said Arif Kosar, who specialises in the impact of new technologies.
"But I don't think facial recognition technology is the main source of pressure today. The use of disinformation to smear the protests, or neutralise and divide them, plays a more important role," he said.
Erdogan has denounced the protests as "street terror", accusing participants of "vandalising" a mosque and a cemetery, charges the opposition has denied.
"Authoritarian regimes now know how to use the internet to their advantage. They have found ways of censoring it," Sener said.
"But above all, they use it for their own propaganda."
