(Il)Legalization of the Role of the Nation State in the Freedom to Consume the Internet: Consumers’ Understanding of and Reactions to Internet Censorship in Turkey

ABSTRACT This study aims to understand Turkish consumers’ understanding of and reactions to censoring of different web-sites in Turkey. In an environment where sites such as youtube.com, blogger.com, and other social media sites are increasingly banned, the consumers’ macro-level understanding is that such bans on consuming the Internetscape are part of a wider ideological plan and the micro-level understanding is that their relationship with the wider global network is reduced and that they have trouble accessing full information on products, services, and experiences. The nethnography revealed that consumers engage in two types of resistance strategies against such domination by the state: using irony and making fun as passive resistance, and using the very same technology used by the state in order to resist the domination of the state.

Citation:

Cagri Yalkin, vom Lehn Dirk, and Kerrigan Finola (2011) ,"(Il)Legalization of the Role of the Nation State in the Freedom to Consume the Internet: Consumers’ Understanding of and Reactions to Internet Censorship in Turkey", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 540.