Turkey reinstated Instagram access on Saturday evening, ending a nine-day suspension.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced the decision on X (formerly Twitter), stating that Instagram had agreed to address Turkey’s concerns, allowing service restoration from 9:30 PM local time. He emphasized the government’s expectation that social media platforms comply with Turkish laws.
Previously, Uraloglu cited “violations related to content,” including posts about gambling, drugs, and child abuse, as reasons for the blockage. Despite claims from Meta, Instagram’s parent company, of cooperating with Turkish authorities by removing nearly 2,500 posts in the first half of the year, the blockage persisted until the evening of August 12.
Additionally, Fahrettin Altun, President Erdogan’s communications director, accused Instagram of censoring condolence messages for Ismael Haniyeh, a political leader from Hamas, following his assassination in Tehran, an act Turkey attributes to Israel.
With approximately 60 to 70 per cent of Turkey’s 85 million residents using Instagram and daily business transactions on the platform estimated at $57 million, the impact of the service interruption was significant. The online game Roblox also remained inaccessible in Turkey on Saturday evening, marking four days of unavailability.
