Turkey blocks access to Instagram. It's in response to removal of posts on Hamas chief, reports say
Turkey’s communications authority has blocked access to the social media platform Instagram
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s communications authority blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Friday, the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country.
The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which regulates the internet, announced the decision early Friday but did not provide a reason.
Yeni Safak newspaper, which is close to the government, and other media said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
“Sanctions for Instagram’s blackout policy were swift. The Information Technologies and Communication Authority blocked access to Instagram,” Yeni Safak stated in its online edition.
Earlier, Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had strongly criticized the Meta-owned platform for preventing users in Turkey from posting messages of condolences for Haniyeh.
The transportation and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, maintained that Instagram had ignored “sensitivities” and was in breach of a so-called inventory of serious crimes, which include incitement to suicide, torture, obscenity, crimes against the state’s security and child sexual abuse, among others. He did not elaborate which particular crime the platform is alleged to have breached.
“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,” he said.
The minister said Turkish authorities were in contact with Instagram’s
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