A senior government official has accused a US-based company of blocking condolence posts for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Turkey has blocked access to Instagram, the national communications authority said, after a senior government official criticized the social media platform for “censoring” Hamas-related content.
Communications authority BTK announced the blockade on Friday, without explaining the decision or stating the duration of the ban.
The move follows comments made on Wednesday by the Turkish presidency’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, criticizing the Meta-owned platform for what he called its decision to block condolence posts about the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
“This is censorship, pure and simple,” Altun wrote on X, noting that Instagram did not cite any policy violations for its decision to block the content.
“We will continue to defend freedom of expression against these platforms, which have repeatedly demonstrated that they serve the global system of exploitation and injustice,” said Altun.
“We will support our Palestinian brothers at every opportunity and on every platform,” he said.
Ismail Haniyeh, the political head of Hamas and a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his bodyguard were killed in Tehran on Wednesday. Hamas and Iran blamed Israel, which did not comment on the attack.
According to Turkish media, there are more than 50 million registered Instagram users in Turkey, out of a population of 85 million.
Many users in the country took to Platform X on Friday to complain about being unable to update their Instagram feed.
“Access to Instagram was blocked (…) around 3am this morning following an administrative order. The decision was made by the presidency or a ministry. BTK must have its decision approved by a judge,” wrote Yaman Akdeniz, a Turkish digital law expert, on X.
“The censorship imposed on Instagram is arbitrary and can never have any explanation or justification. No judge should approve such a request,” she added.
Instagram, Türkiye’de erişime kapatıldı.
Sabahın ilk saatlerinde instagram halkının Twitter’a girişi#Instagram pic.twitter.com/V4nFzhx3YO– Nat Geo Rıdvan (@Rdvngursoy) August 2, 2024
The issue sparked mockery on other social media platforms, including X.
A meme showing a congested subway station with the slogan: “X when the Turks wake up and discover that Instagram is blocked”, started trending on the platform.
“Instagram is blocked in Turkey, life is over,” wrote user “CringeOfMaster” alongside a photo of a grieving man.
Others mockingly asked Instagram users where they could see their doctored images now.
There was no immediate comment from Meta Platforms Inc on the ban or Altun’s statements.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
