Turkey to meet Instagram officials after access ban

Turkey's government will hold talks with Instagram officials on Monday after blocking access to the social media platform last week, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said in a post on X.

The move came after a senior Turkish official accused Instagram of blocking condolence posts following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Uraloglu said Turkey had expressed certain sensitivities regarding compliance with Turkish laws in a previous meeting with representatives of Instagram last week.

“As a result of the block to Instagram in Türkiye, millions of people are being deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends, and businesses are no longer able to reach their customers in the same way," a spokesperson for Meta (META.O), opens new tab, which owns the social media platform, said.

"We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services.”

Turkey's Head of Communications Fahrettin Altun on Wednesday criticized Instagram for alleged "censorship, pure and simple," over what he called its decision to bar condolence posts for Haniyeh after his killing in Iran's capital Tehran on July 31.


Reuters