Turkey has blocked access to Instagram after a senior government official criticized the social media platform for “censorship” of content related to Hamas. The country’s national communication authority, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), announced the ban on Friday without providing further details or specifying the duration of the prohibition.
This decision follows comments from Fahrettin Altun, the communications director for the office of the Turkish President, who expressed dissatisfaction with Meta-owned Instagram for blocking condolence posts regarding the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday. “This is censorship, pure and simple,” Altun wrote on X (formerly Twitter), noting that Instagram did not provide any indication of policy violations when they made the 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,” he added. “We will stand by our Palestinian brothers on every occasion and on every platform.”
Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his bodyguard were killed in Tehran on Wednesday. Hamas and Iran have accused Israel of the attack, which Israel has yet to comment on.
According to Turkish media, there are over 50 million registered users of Instagram in Turkey, which has a population of 85 million. Many users in the country took to the X platform on Friday to voice their frustrations about being unable to update their Instagram feeds. “Access to Instagram was blocked… at around 3:00 AM this morning following an administrative order. The decision was made either by the presidency or a ministry. BTK must have its decision approved by a judge,” wrote Yaman Akdeniz, a Turkish expert in digital law, on X. “The censorship imposed on Instagram is arbitrary and can never have any explanation or justification. No judge should approve such a request,” he added.
The situation has led to mockery on other social media networks, including X. A meme showing a crowded subway station with the text: “X, when Turks wake up to find that Instagram is blocked,” began trending on the platform. “Instagram is blocked in Turkey, life is over,” wrote user “CringeOfMaster” alongside an image of a grieving man. Others jokingly asked Instagram users where they could now view their edited pictures.
There has been no immediate comment from Meta Platforms Inc regarding either the block or Altun’s statements.