Skip to main content

Turkey Unblocks Access To Instagram After 9 Days

Turkey began unblocking Instagram Saturday evening after depriving access to millions of users for nine days.

"Following our negotiations with representatives of Instagram, we will unblock access starting from 9:30 pm (1830 GMT) after they agreed to respond to our demands," transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on X.

Instagram access began to progressively return after that time, AFP reporters noted.

"Since the beginning, we have wanted social media platforms to respect the laws of the Republic," Uraloglu insisted.

The platform had been blocked since the morning of August 2 for reasons that were never fully explained.

Saturday evening the minister mentioned "violations linked to content", adding that Instagram had refused to delete thousands of posts involving "gambling, drugs and abuse of children".

Meta, the owner of Instagram, denied not cooperating, saying it had withdrawn almost 2,500 posts in the first half of the year at the request of Turkish authorities.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's communications director, Fahrettin Altun, accused Instagram of blocking messages of condolence for Ismael Haniyeh, political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas and a close ally of Erdogan's.

Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last month in an attack blamed on Israel.

Between 60 and 70 percent of Turkey's 85 million inhabitants have an Instagram account, and about $57 million of business is carried out on the site each day, according to Emre Ekmekci, vice-president of an e-commerce association.

Access to the online game Roblox, particularly popular in Turkey, remained blocked for a fourth day Saturday evening.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)



from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/hBLybtD

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

US Has Agreed To Send More Bombs, Warplanes To Israel: Report

The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah. The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post. Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to Israel, its longtime ally. The package comes as Israel faces strong international criticism over its continued bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza and as some members of President Joe Biden's party call for him to cut US military aid. The United States has been rushing air defenses and munitions to Israel, but some Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration's steadfast support of Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity. Bid...
Post a Comment
Read more