Turkey blocks access to Instagram

Turkey is blocking access to Instagram for its citizens, according to a statement from the BTK (Information and Communication Technologies Authority) on its official website. The announcement specifies that “instagram.com has been blocked as of 02/08/2024,” without providing details on the reasons for the ban or its expected duration.

Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish president’s communications director, criticized the platform’s decision to block condolence posts related to the murder of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is considered a close ally of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Turkish media shows over 50 million Instagram users are active in Turkey, which has an 85 million-person population.

This is not the first time such measures have been taken. In 2017, Turkey blocked Wikipedia for linking Erdoğan to extremists. This ban was lifted in 2020.

In April 2024, Meta decided to shut down its Threads platform in Turkey following a temporary order from Turkish competition authorities that prohibited data sharing between Threads and Instagram. Meta said it complied with all Turkish legal requirements and planned to appeal the decision.

According to this order, users with Threads accounts were required to deactivate or delete their accounts before April 29.