Turkey’s national communications authority stated on Friday that it has stopped access to Instagram, the social media platform, without providing a reason. This move came after a senior Turkish official accused the US corporation of censoring content.
Without providing any other information, the BTK communications regulator stated on its website that “instagram.com has been blocked by a decision on the date of 02/08/2024.”
Many users living in Turkey complained on the X platform that they could not refresh their Instagram feed, an issue verified by AFP journalists.
Fahrettin Altun, the director of communications for the Turkish presidency, attacked Instagram on Wednesday, alleging that the social media site was “impeding people from publishing messages of condolence for the martyr Haniyeh.”
The head of Hamas’ political office and a close supporter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday in an incident that was attributed to Israel.
“This is a very clear and obvious attempt at censure,” Altun said on X.
Out of the 85 million people living in Turkey, more than 50 million of them are Instagram users, according to Turkish media.
The choice provoked jeers on other social media platforms, like X.
On the platform, a meme featuring a crowded metro station with the caption, “X when Turks wake up to find that Instagram is blocked,” went viral.
User “CringeOfMaster” posted a picture of a distraught man with the caption, “Instagram is blocked in Turkey, life is over”.
Some ridiculed Instagram users by inquiring where they could view their altered photos at the moment.
The Turkish government has previously barred users from using social media websites.
Two entries on Wikipedia that claimed a connection between the president and extremism led to its blocking between April 2017 and January 2020.
That was shocking in a nation where Erdogan’s administration is frequently charged with violating civil liberties because of the volume of web content that was rendered unavailable.
Owner of Facebook Meta halted its Threads social network in Turkey in April when the country’s authorities decided to stop it from exchanging data with Instagram.
