Turkey bans Instagram for 'criminal content'

Turkey's infotech regulator BTK on Aug. 2 blocked the social media platform Instagram for not complying with the authority's request to remove content that constituted "catalog crimes," denying allegations of a retributive response for "censoring" posts about Hamas leader Haniyeh.

Friday August 02 2024 12:36 pm

Reuters & Duvar English

Turkey on Aug. 2 blocked access to social media platform Instagram, the infotech regulator Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) stated.

The authority did not initially state a reason or duration for the ban, which also left the platform's mobile app inaccessible.

The move follows comments on July 31 by Turkish communications official Fahrettin Altun, criticizing the platform for what he called its decision to block condolence posts on the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, a key official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"This is censorship, pure and simple," Altun, the communications director of the Turkish presidency, said on X, adding that Instagram had not cited any policy violations for its action.

Filistin direniş hareketi Hamas'ın siyasi büro şefi İsmail Heniye, düşmanlarının asla anlayamayacağı bir tevazuyla şehadete yürüdü. Filistin davasının en büyük kahramanlarından biri olarak tarihe geçen şehidimize Allah’tan rahmet diliyoruz. İslam aleminin ve Filistin’in başı…
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) July 31, 2024

There was no immediate comment from Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc. on either the ban or Altun's comments.

The decision is available on BTK's inquiry page.

Answering online news outlet Mediascope's questions, a BTK official stated that the ban was implemented the decision ex-officio, and the accompanying court decision would come within the day.

According to the official, the website was banned due to various "catalog crimes" including "insulting Atatürk," "sexual abuse of a minor," and "incentivizing alcohol use and gambling."

The official stated that they have warned the platform multiple times regarding the criminal content, but saw no action.

Shadowbanning posts about Haniye's assassination were not the reason for the ban as was speculated on social media, asserted the BTK official. "We cannot ban Instagram for that," they said.

BTK would re-open the platform once they complied with their removal requests regarding the criminal content.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's official Instagram account shared an Instagram story while the platform was inaccessible in Turkey.

Erdoğan's official account removes the story an hour later.

The account removed the story wishing for a "Blessed Friday," shortly after receiving backlash for accessing the platform while the rest of the country could not.

The Turkish competition authority had previously probed the social media platform Threads, which led to Meta Platforms shutting down Turkish operations of the platform on April 29.

Meta Platforms was then fined 1.2 billion Turkish lira ($37.20 million) after the competition authority concluded two separate investigations on data-sharing in its Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads platforms.