Turkey has blocked access to Instagram for several days, over the platform's decision to ban condolence messages for assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Turkish officials, including the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure and the President's communications director, have accused Instagram of censorship, failure to remove offensive posts, and preventing condolence messages, stating that the platform had been warned about violations and needed to follow the nation's laws.
Instagram's decision has been criticized in Turkey as 'arbitrary' by freedom of expression advocates, while government officials have accused Meta, Instagram's parent company, of 'systematic censorship' of posts related to Haniyeh.
Turkey's authorities have called Instagram officials for meetings to resolve the issue, expressing concerns over compliance with Turkish laws and accusing the platform of censorship.
The platform has been restricted following a court order by the authorities.
Turkey's opposition parties, legal experts, and the Mayor of Istanbul have petitioned for the freeze on Instagram to be lifted.
Erdogan's government is criticized for restricting freedom of expression and has a history of temporarily blocking social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. It temporarily restricted Twitter access after the 2023 earthquakes.
The government has tightened its control over the internet by banning specific URLs and platforms, including social media sites, with over 40,000 URLs blocked in 2022 through government requests.
Internet freedom in Turkey has declined over the past decade, with increased censorship, and criminalization of online speech. Turkey also introduced a Disinformation Law in 2022, limiting online speech and privacy.
Turkey ranks fifth globally in Instagram usage, with around 57 million users.
Sources: Barron's, Economic Times, The Epoch Times, The New Arab, New Indian Express, Benzinga, Econotimes, Rudaw, Turkish Minute, Breaking The News, Khaleej Times, Devdiscourse, Eyewitness News, Bianet, Art Dog Istanbul.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
