ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey's attempt to block access to Twitter appeared to backfire on Friday with many tech-savvy users circumventing the ban and suspicions growing that the prime minister was using court orders to suppress corruption allegations against him and his government.

Turkey's telecommunications authority confirmed early Friday that it had blocked access to the social media network hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to "rip out the roots'' of the website. Tweets have proliferated with links to recordings that appear to incriminate him and other top officials in corruption.