ISTANBUL: President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday slammed social media companies, saying they sought to “muzzle the voices of the Palestinian people”, after Turkey blocked access to Instagram last week.
Turkey held talks with Instagram on Monday following the move, which followed an allegation by a senior Turkish official that the social media site blocked condolence posts over the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Turkey has denounced Israel's attacks on Gaza, called for an immediate ceasefire and criticised what it calls unconditional support for Israel by the West.
“We are facing a digital fascism that does not tolerate even photos of Palestinian martyrs and immediately bans them,” Erdogan said, citing Haniyeh's killing.
“They are using all means to conceal Israel's cruelty and silence the voices of the Palestinian people. Especially social media companies have literally become militants,” he said in a speech in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Israel and its Western allies say Hamas is a “terrorist” organisation, a view rejected by Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country that is a member of NATO.
“As a result of the Instagram block in Turkey, 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 ways,” said a spokesperson for Meta META.O, which owns the social media platform.
“We will continue to do everything possible to restore our services.”
On the day of Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran last week, Turkish presidential communications chief Fahrettin Altun criticized Instagram for alleged “censorship, pure and simple” over what he called its decision to ban condolence posts for the Hamas leader.
Iran and Hamas accused Israel of carrying out the attack that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran's new president. Israel has not claimed responsibility.
Turkey ranks fifth in the world in terms of Instagram usage, with more than 57 million users, after India, the United States, Brazil and Indonesia, according to data platform Statista.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said in a post on X that Turkey expressed certain sensitivities regarding compliance with Turkish laws in a previous meeting with Instagram representatives last week.
Among those unhappy with the ban was Basak, 34, who runs a handmade jewellery design account on Instagram with more than 30,000 followers, and said the ban had affected her business.
“Some of my clients were able to reach out to me by accessing Instagram via VPN and other social media platforms, but my ability to reach new people and potential clients stopped,” he said.
Internet monitor NetBlocks estimates that the ban on Instagram costs the Turkish economy around $11.5 million a day.
Turkish e-commerce association ETID estimates that Turkish businesses generate about 900 million liras ($27 million) in revenue daily from Instagram, said Vice President Emre Ekmekci.
If the ban continues, there will be a gradual shift of both sellers and users to other platforms, he said.
“We hope that the meeting will be positive and that the parties can find a solution. This is not just a political issue, it also has a commercial impact.”
