Turkish authorities blocked access to the social network on Friday Instagramwithout clarifying at this time the reasons behind this decision.
The Information and Communications Technology Authority (BTK) confirmed that “instagram.com has been blocked by the BTK decision made on August 2,” without elaborating.
Turkish broadcaster NTV reported that, according to its sources, the popular website had committed one of the “catalogue crimes” that include, for example, disseminating content on child sexual abuse, inciting suicide or insulting the founder of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
The opposition newspaper One dayfor its part, speculates that the decision could be due to an alleged censorship that Instagram has applied to messages of condolence for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed last Wednesday in Tehran by a projectile attributed to Israel.
A premise that is supported by the official newspaper, Daily Sabah.
“I strongly condemn the fact that Instagram has prevented, without giving any reason, the dissemination of messages of condolence for the death of Haniyeh. This is an obvious act of censorship,” wrote the head of communications for the Turkish presidency, Fahrettin Altun, on the X network (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
“In the face of this platform, which has repeatedly demonstrated that it serves the exploitative global order and injustice, we will continue to defend freedom of expression,” Altun added.
The other platforms of Instagram’s parent company Meta are currently operating without problems in Turkey. However, this is not the first time that the Turkish administration has taken similar measures. According to Variety, citing the Turkish Association for Freedom of Expression, more than 712,000 websites were blocked in 2022, while YouTube was banned between 2007 and 2010.
Turkey declared Friday night a day of national mourning in condolence for the assassination of Haniyeh, with flags across the country at half-mast.
