Turkey Instagram Ban Update!! Nationwide Blackout

Turkey Instagram Ban – On Friday, communications authorities barred access to the Meta’s social media network Instagram, the latest example of the country’s internet censorship efforts. The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which controls the internet, announced the decision early Friday without providing an explanation.

According to the Yeni Safak newspaper and AP, access was banned in retaliation to Instagram removing messages from Turkish users expressing condolences over the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

“The sanctions against Instagram’s blackout policy were fast. The Information Technologies and Communication Authority has barred access to Instagram,” Yeni Safak said in its online edition.

Fahrettin Altun, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s communications director and assistant, had criticised the Meta-owned platform for blocking Turkish users from sending condolence messages for Haniyeh.

Abdulkadir Uraloglu, the transport and infrastructure minister, claimed that Instagram had ignored “sensitivities” and was in violation of a so-called inventory of serious crimes, which includes incitement to suicide, torture, obscenity, crimes against state security, and child sexual abuse, among others. He did not expand on the specific offence the platform is accused of committing.

“When they don’t abide by laws and our regulations and don’t take our societal sensitivities into consideration, we are obliged to make the necessary interventions,” according to him.

The minister stated that Turkish officials were in contact with Instagram’s representative in Turkey.

“When they fulfil the requirements, we will lift the ban,” he promised.

Omer Fatih Sayan, Uraloglu’s deputy, said on X: “We will do whatever it takes to create a social media that respects our values, is free of misinformation, and is cleaner and more secure.”

There was no quick response from Instagram, which has over 50 million users in Turkey, a country of 85 million people.

Unlike its Western friends, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. Erdogan, a harsh critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, referred to the group as “liberation fighters.”

The country will observe a day of mourning for Haniyeh on Friday, with flags flying at half-staff.

Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s mayor and a member of Turkey’s main opposition party, criticised the decision to block Instagram, accusing the communications authority of functioning as a “censorship unit.”

“Social media is a platform that everyone uses for many purposes, including for commerce and communicating,” Imamoglu told X. “It is unacceptable that a platform used by the entire country is arbitrarily shut down one morning.”

Turkey has a history of restricting social media and websites. Hundreds of thousands of domains have been blocked since 2022, according to the Freedom of Expression Association, a non-profit organisation comprised of attorneys and human rights activists. YouTube, a video-sharing network, was restricted from 2007 and 2010.

Source: AP

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