Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday denounced the “fascism” of social networks which cannot “even tolerate photos of Palestinian martyrs” without immediately censoring them.
On the fourth day of the blocking of the Instagram platform, the head of state seemed to confirm the political motivations behind this decision which remained unexplained.
“We are facing a digital fascism that cannot tolerate even photos of Palestinian martyrs without immediately banning them,” he told his party’s officials in Ankara.
“These companies have declared war on the glorious resistance and heroes of the Palestinian people in the virtual world. We see them acting like a mafia whenever their interests are at stake,” he continued.
“This is not new. We have seen them act with double standards when it comes to Turkey before. (…) Lying and provocations have become the hallmark of these platforms,” he added.
According to Mr. Erdogan, “they respect the rules in America and Europe, but they knowingly neglect them when it comes to fighting content crimes in Turkey.”
The head of state added that he had tried “to establish a dialogue, but we have not yet been able to fully establish the desired cooperation” with these companies.
Turkey blocked access to Instagram for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.
The decision was announced Friday morning by Turkey’s Information and Communications Technology Authority (BTK), without explanation.
The suspicion of censorship immediately arose on Friday following criticism expressed by the Turkish presidency’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun.
The Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, who reported “sensitivities” and contentious content, announced on X his meeting planned for “the afternoon” with the platform’s managers.
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