The Türkiye Instagram ban hit the entire country on Friday, August 2, 2024, and millions of people have failed to gain access to the app. Imagine this: You scroll through your stream, double-click it, and suddenly – puff! Your favorite photo-sharing apps are steam and flying. Türkiye Instagram ban has interrupted users’ social media lives with the practice of censorship in the country again.
In an instant, the platform was buried in the dark and both the website and the mobile app became inaccessible. So what is behind this social media blackout? Let’s develop this story and see what develops. It is also worth mentioning that some users in the afternoon can gradually access Instagram again. There is no official statement at the moment.
Türkiye Instagram Ban: A Picture-Perfect Storm
The Türkiye Instagram ban is not an unexpected event. Tensions have been escalating between the government and social media channels in the country recently. Fahrettin Altun, a Turkish communications official, accused Instagram of censorship, claiming the platform blocked condolence messages about Ismail Haniyeh, a key figure in Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. Altun kept Instagram in the rain of criticism on X for what he saw as unfair content removal.
Apparently, the actions of the platform did not get much acclaim from the Turkish authorities. Türkiye’s government is known to support Palestine between the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.
The Türkiye Instagram ban spread so quickly in dirty information that it began to affect most of the users. Initially, the Turkish authorities imposed this ban without any explanation on the matter. But later, Instagram was shut down because “catalog crimes were not followed.” BTK (Information and Communication Technologies Authority) announced to the public.
This is not the first time Türkiye has hit the ‘do not follow’ button on social media platforms. The nation has a history of blocking websites and social networks. Since 2022, it has faced hundreds of thousands of digital domain names being blocked, according to the Freedom of Expression Association. YouTube was blocked in Türkiye from 2007 to 2010. Instagram is the latest person to join this exclusive “banned” club. Who says social media is not private?
Anayasa Mahkemesi, İletişim Başkanlığının şu "görev"lerini ("düşünceyi açıklama ve yayma hürriyeti ile basın hürriyetine müdahale bu şekilde yapılamaz" diyerek) iptal etmiş: (Tweeti kısa sürede silmiş, AYM sitesi de erişilmez hale gelmiş ama Resmi Gazeteye hâlâ erişilebiliyor:) pic.twitter.com/rFiWUr2AXS
— Cem Say (@say_cem) August 2, 2024
Türkiye Instagram ban met with reaction by Turkish citizens. At X it became the subject of Trends globally. And it’s now made it heard in the world. An X user, Cem Say, shared some interesting information. According to Say, Türkiye Constitutional Court initially ruled it unconstitutional, citing the ban as a violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. However, in the form of a conspiracy worthy of a soap opera, the regulatory body, BTK, also erased this announcement and allegedly blocked access to the Constitutional Court’s website.
In addition, Fahrettin Altun, who stated that the Constitutional Court was not intercepted by the BTK, said that the reason for the inaccessibility of the site was not accessible due to the excessive intensity of users trying to enter most official sites after the decision taken by the constitutional court.
Bazı sosyal medya hesaplarında yer alan, "Anayasa Mahkemesinin internet sitesi erişime kapatıldı" iddiası doğru değildir.
Anayasa Mahkemesi'nin internet sitesinin erişime kapatılması söz konusu değildir.
Bazı basın yayın organlarının da yoğunluk nedeniyle yaşanan bu sorunu,… pic.twitter.com/KAJbR8r1XE
— Dezenformasyonla Mücadele Merkezi (@dmmiletisim) August 2, 2024
Interestingly, Say points out that the Official Gazette, where laws are typically published, is accessible. According to the law, the decisions taken by the Turkish Constitutional Court are correct and the decisions taken by the BTK are wrong. But if the rules are not followed, what does the law mean. These laws are concerned with analyzing threats to Türkiye and countering psychological operations, propaganda and disinformation. It’s a heavy thing for what started as a disagreement about photo sharing.
If the Turkish Instagram ban continues for the time being, some unknown users are reporting that they still can’t access it, and some say I now have access. For now, Türkiye Instagram ban story is in a pause phase and no one knows when the next update will drop.
Featured image credit: Anna Popović / Unsplash
