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.
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Bihar's 'Munnabhais': CBI registers fresh case in NEET-UG irregularities; 8 booked
New Delhi, Jan 15: The CBI has registered a fresh case in connection with alleged impersonation by four NEET-UG, 2024 candidates in Bihar's Purnea, officials said on Wednesday.
The central probe agency took over the case from Bihar Police on a request from the state government.
The principal of SRDAV public school, one of the centres for the prestigious medical entrance examination held on May 5 last year, has alleged that the candidates' biometrics showed four impersonators were taking the exam rather than genuine candidates, according to an FIR registered in the matter.
According to the FIR, one Nitish Kumar of Bhojpur appeared for Ashish Kumar of Mujaffarpur, Kamlesh Kumar of Jalore (Rajasthan) appeared for Dheeraj Prakash of Siwan, Saurabh Kumar of Begusarai appeared for Tathaghat Kumar of Sitamarhi and Mayank Chaudhary of Sitamarhi appeared for Deepak Kumar Singh of Muzaffarpur.
The CBI has booked all eight for alleged impersonation, cheating and forgery among others.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other medical courses in government and private institutions.
The exam was conducted on May 5, 2024 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. More than 23 lakh candidates appeared for the test.
The Bihar Police launched a crackdown after getting inputs of an alleged leak of the paper and it soon snowballed into a major political issue.
The Union education ministry handed over the probe to the CBI, which had registered several FIRs in the case, taking over probes from different states including Bihar.
The agency had registered first FIR into the case on June 23 last year.
