According to Reporters Without Borders' 2015 World Press Freedom Index , both Egypt and Turkey have abysmal records on press freedom. Egypt ranks 158 out of 180 countries in the world, and Turkey ranks 149.Johann Bihr, a specialist on issues relating to Turkey's media from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told Refinery29 that the repressive Turkish government is carried over partially from the 1990s, when the military presided. Today, the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is non-military, though he controls the press with an iron fist.Shutdowns of YouTube and Twitter are frequent — if the Turkish government identifies content they consider criminal on either site, the companies are given four hours to remove it, or be blocked."The Internet appeared as a kind of asylum for the public to get objective information, and the increasing control of the Internet, which has been visible over the past few years, now threatens this space of free information and free debate," Bihr told Refinery29.Bihr noted that while Turkey does have a pluralistic press, it is one that is under constant scrutiny and often overshadowed by Erdoğan-endorsed outlets."This case bears all the characteristics of something which is systematic in Turkey: the abuse of anti-terror law for silencing critics," Bihr said. "The accusations and charges brought against the Vice reporters and their fixer sound totally absurd and out of any proportion."