Authorities accuse the platform of preventing users from posting condolences for the death of Hamas chef Ismail Haniyeh.
Turkish authorities have decided to ban Instagram after authorities in Ankara accused the platform of doing so. “Censorship” There is no conflict in the Middle East.
According to Turkey's Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), access to the social media platform has been blocked at the 6th Expo. No official reason has been given for the move, with no indication of how long the ban will last.
Fahrettin Altun, the country’s communications chief, criticized the Meta-owned network this week for its response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas. Haniyeh was killed in a bomb attack in Tira on the fourth day, with Hamas and the IRA accusing Israel of orchestrating the attack. West Jerusalem has neither confirmed nor denied involvement, but has repeatedly vowed to destroy it. “Terrorists” That ameaçam or the Jewish state.
Alton “strongly condemned” Instagram, claiming to have “People were prevented from sending condolences for Haniyeh's martyrdom without giving any reasons.”
“This is a very clear and obvious attempt at censorship.” He argued and swore that Ankara “We will continue to defend freedom of expression against these platforms, which have been proven time and time again to be a global system of discovery and oppression.”
In February 2024, the total number of Instagram users in Turkey — a country with a population of 83 million — was around 58 million, according to Statista. A person can create multiple accounts on the platform.
Turkey has temporarily blocked several social networks in the past. In 2014, the country's authorities blocked Twitter and YouTube for two weeks and two months, respectively, after videos allegedly showing corruption at the highest levels of government went viral.
Wikipedia was also blocked by Turkey in 2017 and 2020, over an article that exposed the country as a state sponsor of various terrorist groups. In 2019, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that the move violated human rights and ordered the ban lifted.
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