Recep Tayyip Erdogan's monitoring of the digital realm Having taken control of the traditional media, Turkish President Erdogan is now extending his reach to the social networks. A new law has been passed to rein in major digital players Twitter and Google. But the government's attempt to dominate public opinion is producing some bizarre outgrowths, reports Ronald Meinardus from Istanbul In order to understand what is going on in Turkey today, it's a good idea to pay close attention to the President's words. Recep Tayyip Erdogan proclaimed in early July last year that social media should either be banned or controlled and regulated. This chastisement was triggered by offensive posts after Erdogan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak, then still finance minister in his cabinet, had announced the birth of his fourth child on the messaging service Twitter. Erdogan denounced the resulting tweets as "immoral" and "dark-hearted" and warned that there would be consequences: "We want media of this sort to be eradicated or brought under control."