15 Things You Won't Believe Have Been Banned Around The World

8. Twitter Is Banned In Turkey

In early March, of this year, information surfaced in Twitter feeds that implicated Turkey's Prime Minister in having some shady dealings in the country's recent elections. Outraged, Minister Erdogan swore an oath to "eradicate" Twitter altogether from Turkey, and by March 20th he had succeeded, banning the website outright. Two weeks later the rest of Turkey's government got behind their Constitutional Court in a ruling which reversed the ban by stating in so many words that Minister Erdogan had greatly overestimated his power. Not wanting to look like an idiot and accept total defeat, Erdogan had Youtube banned a week later.

7. Movie Theatres Are Banned In Saudi Arabia

With very few exceptions, movie theatres have been banned in Saudi Arabia since the 1980s. Maybe the authorities saw Back to the Future and Aliens and decided all cinema beyond those moments to be superfluous. The reality of the downfall for Saudi theatre chains were Islamic fanatics losing too much sleep over their existence. Movie theatres are, after all, dark places that provide men and women an opportunity to interact together (strictly against the law, see #2). Pressured by the revival of Islam during that time the government decided that getting rid of all theatre chains was the most appropriate course of action.