Turkey’s Instagram ban may impact e-commerce volume of $57.4B

Emre Ekmekçi, Vice Chairman of the Association of E-Commerce Operators (ETİD), stated that Turkey's blocking access to Instagram could affect an e-commerce volume of 1.9 billion Turkish liras ($57.4B), potentially causing revenue loss or forcing businesses to switch platforms.

Saturday August 03 2024 11:33 am

Duvar English

The Instagram access ban implemented by Turkey since Aug. 2 would seriously affect transactions conducted through social media, constituting 10% of the country's total e-commerce, Vice Chair of the Association of E-Commerce Operators (ETİD) Emre Ekmekçi told TV channel CNBC-e.

Ekmekçi mentioned that if influencers were included in the e-commerce activities on social media equating to 930 million Turkish liras per day, a volume of 1.9 billion liras ($57.4B) could be affected by the ban.

"It will not be completely lost, but it will shift to another time or platform,” he added.

What happened?

Turkey blocked access to social media platform Instagram on Friday for failing to comply with the country's "laws and rules," a government minister said.

The move came after a senior Turkish official accused the platform of blocking condolence posts following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"We warned Instagram about certain offenses. We want some rules to be followed ... We intervene when they disregard legal rules and public sensitivities." Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said.

"We are in contact with them. Our sensitivities are clear, as soon as they correct those shortcomings, we will remove the ban. This is a country with laws and rules." Uraloğlu added.

He did not clarify what the shortcomings were. Access to Instagram has been restricted in Turkey following the ban implemented by authorities following a court order on Friday, internet observatory NetBlocks said.

Turkish communications official Fahrettin Altun on July 31 criticized Instagram for what he called its decision to block condolence posts after Haniyeh was killed in Tehran. "This is censorship, pure and simple," Altun, the communications director of the Turkish presidency, said on X.

There was no immediate comment from Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc META.O on either the ban or Altun's comments. Turkey's Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) published the Aug. 2 decision on its website.

Topics Instagram social media bans e-commerce social media Information Technologies and Communication Authority