By Lucy Adautin
On Friday,Turkey’s communications authority blocked access to Instagram, marking the latest crackdown on social media in the country.
The Information and Communication Technologies Authority announced the block early Friday without specifying a reason.
The pro-government Sabah media reported that the move was in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users expressing condolences for the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
This development follows criticism from Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who condemned the Meta-owned platform for restricting messages of condolences for Haniyeh from Turkish users.
Unlike many Western countries, Turkey does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. President Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, has referred to Hamas as “liberation fighters.”
Friday was designated a day of mourning for Haniyeh in Turkey, with flags flown at half-staff.
Turkey has a history of censoring social media and websites. Since 2022, hundreds of thousands of domains have been blocked, according to the Freedom of Expression Association, a non-profit organization composed of lawyers and human rights activists. The video-sharing platform YouTube was also blocked from 2007 to 2010.
