Access to the social network Instagram was restored in Turkey over the weekend, Daily Sabah reported Sunday. The company promised to cooperate with authorities to meet requirements regarding “crimes” and “censorship” imposed on users.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Turkey Abdulkadir Uraloglu reported that access was restored as a result of negotiations with Instagram representatives. As he added on the X platform, the company promised to cooperate with the authoritiesto meet their requirements regarding “crimes” and “censorship” imposed on users.
The head of the ministry emphasized that the Meta Platforms company, which owns Instagram, announced deletion of accounts belonging to terrorist organizationssuch as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and related propaganda content.
Türkiye has blocked Instagram
Access to Instagram was blocked on Friday, August 2, because the service “did not comply with national laws and regulations and the sensitivity of public opinion,” Daily Sabah recalled.
Two days earlier, Fahrettin Altun, head of the communications department in the presidential office, criticized the platform for blocking posts of condolences after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, calling it “censorship” and noting that Instagram had not cited any violation of its rules.
The Instagram block has caused dissatisfaction among users and business representatives who reach customers through the platform, Reuters emphasized. According to Statista, Turkey is the fifth largest Instagram user in the world. It is estimated that there are over 57 million of them.
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