Turkey Bans Instagram: Accusation – Prevented Posts of Condolence Messages for Hamas Chief, Haniyeh Who Was Killed on Tuesday

Turkey has imposed a ban on the social media app Instagram. On August 2, the Turkish government issued an order blocking Instagram’s domain. However, no specific reasons for the ban have been provided by the government.

The Turkish National Communication Authority announced this decision on its website. Following the order, many people in Turkey reported issues with Instagram, including problems loading their Instagram feeds.

Fahrettin Altun, the Communication Director of the Turkish Presidency, accused Instagram’s parent company, Meta, of failing to prevent users from posting humorous messages about the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh passed away on Tuesday in Tehran, Iran, as a result of an Israeli attack. He was also known to be close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Instagram Ban Affects 50 Million Users

According to Turkish media reports, the recent ban on Instagram has impacted 50 million users. With Turkey’s total population estimated at 85 million, this indicates that a significant portion of the country’s population uses Instagram.

In response to the ban, a flood of memes has appeared on the social media platform X. This is not the first time Turkey has imposed restrictions on a social media app or website. Previously, Turkey had also banned Wikipedia between 2017 and 2020 due to articles related to terrorism and the president.