On Friday, Turkey blocked access to Instagram, as announced by the national communications authority, BTK, without providing an explanation.
The move follows accusations of censorship by a high-ranking Turkish official against the U.S.-based platform. BTK stated on its website that “instagram.com has been blocked by a decision on the date of 02/08/2024,” without offering further details.
Many users in Turkey took to the X platform to report that they were unable to refresh their Instagram feeds, an issue confirmed by AFP journalists.
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The Turkish presidency’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, had criticized Instagram on Wednesday, accusing it of “impeding people from publishing messages of condolence for the martyr Haniyeh.” Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Hamas and an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was killed in Tehran on Wednesday in an attack attributed to Israel.
Altun described the situation as a “clear and obvious attempt at censure” on X.
According to Turkish media, Instagram has over 50 million users in Turkey, a country with a population of 85 million. The decision to block the platform led to widespread mockery on other social media networks like X.
Memes circulated, including one showing a crowded metro station with the caption: “X when Turks wake up to find that Instagram is blocked.” Another user tweeted, “Instagram is blocked in Turkey, life is over,” alongside a picture of a grieving man. Others joked about where Instagram users would now view their edited photos.
This isn’t the first time Turkish authorities have blocked access to social media sites. Wikipedia was blocked between April 2017 and January 2020 due to articles that alleged a link between the presidency and extremism. In April, Meta also suspended its Threads social network in Turkey after authorities barred it from sharing information with Instagram.
