Turkey stops access to Instagram for restricting Haniyeh condolence messages

Muhammad Amin

Turkey is restricting access to the Instagram social network after it started shadow banning users who posted condolence messages over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Since Friday morning, the social network is not accessible from computers or mobile devices.

The country’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority announced Friday ” access to the Instagram.com website was blocked”, without providing any details.

The announcement came after Fahrettin Altun, the head of the Turkish presidential administration’s Directorate of Communications, denounced the social media platform on Wednesday for “actively hindering” users who posted condolence messages for Haniyeh.

Turkey has declared Friday a day of national mourning.

“This is censorship, pure and simple,” Altun said on X, adding that Instagram had not cited any policy violations for its action.

Al Mayadeen reports Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated Wednesday that assassinating Haniyeh would not help “Israel” accomplish its aims, condemning the aggression. 

“As before, the Zionist barbarians will again fail to achieve their goals through killing,” Erdogan said on X.

Erdogan also denounced the “treacherous assassination” and described it as a “despicable act aimed at undermining the Palestinian cause… demoralizing and intimidating Palestinians.”

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim Thursday demanded US-giant Meta to stop acting as “Israel’s” tool after Instagram deleted his comments on the assassination of Haniyeh.

“Let this serve as a clear and unequivocal message to Meta: Cease this display of cowardice and stop acting as instruments of the oppressive Zionist Israeli regime!” Ibrahim said as he published screengrabs of notifications he received from Instagram claiming his posts went against the platform’s community guidelines.