Two countries, two US internet services, two important restrictions: There is a movement in Turkey and Russia about the Instagram photo platform and the YouTube video platform.
Turkiye Location: Instagram has not been working regularly in Türkiye anymore since Friday last week. Access to the platform from Turkey was only possible through protected network (VPN) connections. The reasons and expected time have not been disclosed. However, observers suspect that the ban was related to sympathy for Ismail Haniyeh, the slain foreign leader of the Islamist Hamas.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suspended online platforms after Instagram was blocked in the country he leads. They practiced “digital fascism” and behaved like the mafia when it came to their interests, Erdogan said at an event organized by his Islamic-conservative ruling AKP party. “We are against digital fascism that does not accept even pictures of Palestinian martyrs and immediately blocks them and also sells this as freedom,” he said. He accused the platforms that they followed the rules in Europe and the US, but not when it comes to Turkey’s values.
Russia Location: In Russia, there have been more complaints recently that the YouTube video platform is only functioning to a limited extent.
Several media outlets reported the outage, citing the Sboj.RF service, which records reports of disturbances on websites. Protests were reported mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also from other parts of the country.
Image: APA/AFP/Bonaventure
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Image: APA/AFP/Bonaventure
Russia had already banned major social networks such as X and Facebook; they can only be used via VPN. The problems with the video platform are no surprise. Foreign Ministry Deputy Spokesman Andrei Nastassin said the platform had blocked Russian channels to Moscow’s dismay and was also ignoring requests from Russian authorities for more than 60,000 it estimated were Banned and counter posts removed. According to government circles, the thrust of the service is not directed against users in Russia, but against YouTube’s leadership.
