By decision of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, access to the popular social network Instagram was banned as of today, August 2, in Turkey.
Officially, no explanation was given for the ban. However, some media outlets and many users on the social media platform X report that Instagram has been blocking posts about the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.
On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Fahrettin Altun, accused Instagram of removing posts regarding the Haniyeh assassination. In his statement, Altun strongly condemned Instagram, claiming the platform actively prevented people from posting messages of condolences over the death of Haniyeh without citing any policy violations. He labeled this act as “censorship.”
Altun further emphasized that the Turkish government would “defend free speech against these platforms that have shown many times that they are primarily at the service of the global exploitative system of injustice.”
Source: ANA-MPA, Translated by: Konstantinos Menyktas
