Turkey blocks Instagram after ‘censorship’ row
Al Jazeera
Top government official accused US-based company of blocking condolence posts on killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Turkey has blocked access to Instagram, the national communications authority said, after a top government official slammed the social media platform for “censoring” Hamas-related content.
The communications authority BTK announced the block on Friday, without giving an explanation for the decision or stating the duration of the ban.
The move follows comments on Wednesday by the Turkish presidency’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, criticising the Meta-owned platform for what he called its decision to block condolence posts on the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
“This is censorship, pure and simple,” Altun wrote on X, noting that Instagram had not cited any policy violations for its decision to block the content.
“We will continue to defend freedom of expression against these platforms, which have repeatedly shown that they serve the global system of exploitation and injustice,” Altun said.
