Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) has determined the names of 215,000 people who downloaded the Bylock smart phone application to their mobile phones, giving the list to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office so those individuals can be investigated due to their alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, according to a story in the Habertürk daily on Thursday.
Turkish authorities believe ByLock is the top communication tool among the followers of the Gülen movement, which is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a failed coup attempt on July 15.
Tens of thousands of civil servants, police officers and businessmen have either been dismissed or arrested for using ByLock since the failed coup attempt.
According to Habertürk, police teams discovered that the 215,000 users sent 18 million messages using ByLock and that 78,165 voice calls were made using the application.