Instagram users in Turkey are still unable to access the platform as Turkish authorities maintain their decision to block the popular social network, which has more than 50 million users in the Eurasian country and which the government accuses of applying double standards when it comes to removing “illegal” content.
According to Turkish media reports, the decision by Turkey’s Information and Communication Technology Agency (BTK) to shut down the popular Meta social network would follow what Turkish authorities consider to be a double standard by Instagram, which has previously failed to remove content that broke Turkish law – such as insults to Atatürk – and received heavy fines – of up to 100 million liras, almost 3 million euros – for doing so. Other content infringing Turkish law that was not removed included references to dead soldiers, prostitution or gambling, for example.
But what for Turkish authorities would have been the “last straw” would be Instagram’s decision to remove or block content shared by Turkish citizens offering condolences to Palestinians for the death of Ismail Haniyeh, killed in a recent Israeli airstrike and leader of the political wing of Hamas, a group that is considered a terrorist organisation by many Western countries but is seen in Turkey as a “Palestinian resistance movement”. The BTK, which alleges that Instagram has not acted on the same principle in other countries, then decided to act ex officio and blocked the platform in Turkey.
“Blocking will continue until Instagram complies with the law”
In fact, it has emerged that, a day before the block imposed on Friday 2 August, there was a meeting with Meta representatives in which they were asked about the reasons for removing user posts about Haniyeh; when the answer was that “since Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by the US, the algorithms automatically remove those posts“, the Turkish representatives’ response was clear: “Then have those algorithms remove posts supporting the PKK and its so-called leader Öcalan, which the US also considers terrorists.”
In those cases, however, the response from Meta’s representatives was that such content was covered by freedom of expression. “If you operate in Turkey, you must respect Turkey’s national interests and laws,” was the response from Turkish representatives. On Friday, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure confirmed after the blocking that “despite our warnings, they did not remove the illegal content. We have blocked access. When they comply with our laws, we will lift the ban“.
Hopes for an end to the blockade
Despite Turkey’s firm stance, a new meeting scheduled for Monday between representatives of Instagram and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure appeared to raise hopes for a swift unblocking of Instagram in the country. Minister Uraloğlu himself expressed confidence that an agreement would be reached soon, while several opposition parties and associations in Turkey have demanded that Instagram be made accessible again.
“We trust that they will do whatever it takes to meet our demands, and we hope for a positive ending,” the minister said about the meeting, which was scheduled to begin today at around 13:45 Turkish time (12:45 CET), the daily Hürriyet reported. At that meeting, Turkish representatives plan to present a list of content that violates the law according to provision 100/3 of Turkey’s Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK) No. 5271, which should be removed from Instagram. At the time of writing this piece of news, the meeting had not yet concluded; but unnamed sources present at the meeting and quoted by Turkish journalists said that the meeting took place in a positive and cooperative atmosphere.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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