Turkey to lift Instagram ban on pledge to work 'jointly'
Platform’s block drew criticism from opposition parties
Turkey will lift its ban on Instagram, saying the social media site has promised to meet government demands on censorship and content.
Turkey's internet regulator halted Instagram access on Aug. 2 without explaining why. It came after a senior aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the platform for what he described as "censorship" of posts related to the death of Ismail Haniyeh, political chief of the Palestinian group Hamas.
"Instagram promised to work jointly on posts related to catalog crimes and censorship," Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said Saturday in a post on social media platform X. The ban was set to lift late Saturday.
Instagram and its parent Meta Platforms Inc. didn't immediately respond to requests for comment outside of regular business hours.
The nature of the agreement on posting and content was not immediately clear.
Turkey is a fierce critic of Israel's war in Gaza and doesn't see Hamas as a terror organization. The presidency's communications chief Fahrettin Altun has accused Instagram of "actively preventing people from posting messages of condolences for the passing of Hamas leader Haniyeh without citing any policy violations."
The block drew criticism from opposition parties, with the country's main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel labeling it "global, as well as national nonsense." Turkey's decision has also hit businesses, including female entrepreneurs who rely on the platform to sell their products.
The Turkish government has restricted access to popular social media platforms in the past during terror incidents and major natural disasters, mostly citing security reasons.
The internet regulator has the authority to slash bandwidth under several conditions, and social media platforms are required to have local representatives. The government's tighter grip over the platforms has worried human rights organizations, opposition politicians and other critics, who say it diminishes freedom of expression.