Turkiye blocks access to Instagram; it's in response to removal of posts on Hamas chief: Reports
Ankara, Aug 2: Turkiye's communications authority blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Friday, the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country.
The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which regulates the internet, announced the decision early Friday but did not provide a reason.
Yeni Safak newspaper, which is close to the government, and other media said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
“Sanctions for Instagram's blackout policy were swift. The Information Technologies and Communication Authority blocked access to Instagram,” Yeni Safak stated in its online edition.
Earlier, Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had strongly criticized the Meta-owned platform for preventing users in Turkiye from posting messages of condolences for Haniyeh.
The transportation and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, maintained that Instagram had ignored “sensitivities” and was in breach of a so-called inventory of serious crimes, which include incitement to suicide, torture, obscenity, crimes against the state's security and child sexual abuse, among others. He did not elaborate which particular crime the platform is alleged to have breached.
“When they don't abide by laws and our regulations and don't take our societal sensitivities into consideration, we are obliged to make the necessary interventions,” he said.
The minister said Turkish authorities were in contact with Instagram's representative in Turkiye.
“When they fulfill the requirements, we will lift the ban,” he said.
Uraloglu's deputy, Omer Fatih Sayan, wrote on X: “We will do what is needed to establish a social media that respects our values, is free of disinformation, and is cleaner and more secure.”
There was no immediate comment from Instagram, which has over 50 million users in Turkiye, a nation with a population of 85 million.
The country is observing a day of mourning for Haniyeh on Friday, during which flags are being flown at half-staff.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and a member of Turkiye's main opposition party, denounced the decision to block Instagram, accusing the communications authority of acting like a “censorship unit.”
“Social media is a platform that everyone uses for many purposes, including for commerce and communicating,” Imamoglu wrote on X. “It is unacceptable that a platform used by the entire country is arbitrarily shut down one morning.”
Turkiye has a track record of censoring social media and websites. Hundreds of thousands of domains have been blocked since 2022, according to the Freedom of Expression Association, a non-profit organisation regrouping lawyers and human rights activists. The video-sharing platform YouTube was blocked from 2007 to 2010.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress leader Harish Rawat files FIR against BJP over 'misinformation' campaign against him
Dehradun (PTI) Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday filed a police complaint here against the alleged misinformation campaign being carried out against him by BJP on social media.
Rawat, who reached the Nehru Colony police station with his supporters, handed over a written complaint along with a pen drive and other evidence to the police.
Based on this, an FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and relevant sections of law.
After filing the FIR, Rawat alleged that the police took four hours to register his complaint. He added that if it takes so long for a former CM to file an FIR, one can easily imagine the plight of a common man.
"Finally, after four hours, the police registered the FIR with trembling hands. Their hands were trembling because we have accused the BJP president and his associates, with factual evidence, of misusing AI to tarnish our and our party's image and trying to disrupt social harmony by targeting a particular community," Rawat said.
He expressed hope that after the registration of the FIR, the police would bring the culprits to justice.
Rawat also said, "Just imagine, if the police take so much time to register an FIR of a former CM, what will be the condition of a common man in this state?"
Later, he also handed over a copy of the FIR to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Dehradun and the SSP of the Special Task Force. Rawat also said that he would meet the District Magistrate of Dehradun and the State Election Officer with his complaint on Wednesday.
Recently, an AI-generated reel was uploaded on the official social media page of the BJP, which portrayed Rawat as a supporter of appeasement.
In the reel, a Congress leader is heard saying, "I take refuge in Muslims, I take refuge in dargahs (shrines), I take refuge in love jihad." The subsequent images show the construction of a dargah and some people smiling and talking about turning Devbhoomi (the land of gods) into a land of dargahs.
At the end of the reel, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is seen walking with police forces and bulldozers.
Rawat also claimed that another AI-generated video was uploaded from a 'fake' BJP platform, depicting him as a 'traitorous Pakistani agent' engaged in espionage. However, the BJP has denied any connection to this video.
