Turkey restricts Instagram, website of country’s top court inaccessible
The move against Instagram follows a Turkish government official's criticism of the platform for disallowing condolence messages for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
ANKARA — Turkish authorities on Friday restricted access to Instagram, prompting widespread public outcry in the country, with many users speculating that the move was in retaliation for the social media platform prohibiting condolence messages for slain Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Turkey's Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) confirmed the move on its website without providing a reason.
Fahrettin Altun, head of the Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate, earlier this week slammed the decision by Instagram, which has more than 50 million users in Turkey, to restrict posts about Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran early Wednesday.
“I also strongly condemn the social media platform Instagram, which is actively preventing people from posting messages of condolences for the passing of Hamas leader Haniyeh without citing any policy violations,” he wrote on X. “This is censorship, pure and simple.”
“We will defend freedom of speech against these platforms,” Altun added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s official Instagram account shared a post wishing his followers a good Friday after the ban. The post was later removed.
The restriction has led to a major backlash from social media users and rights activists.
“Censorship of Instagram is arbitrary and can never have any explanation or justification,” Yaman Akdeniz, a prominent Turkish cyber rights activist, posted on X. “No judge can approve such a request.”
Al-Monitor contacted Meta, which owns Instagram, but the company was unavailable for immediate comment.
The restriction on Instagram coincided with the website of the Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest court, being inaccessible to many internet users in the country.
The court earlier this week struck down a law that authorizes the communications directorate “to take action against all forms of manipulation and disinformation” on the grounds that it would hamper the constitutional right of freedom of speech.
