On Friday, Turkey’s infotech authority announced that Instagram and its mobile app were disabled without a cause or duration
The action is in response to remarks made by Fahrettin Altun, a Turkish communications official, on Wednesday.
Altun criticized the platform for its decision to block condolence postings regarding the death of Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“This is censorship, pure and simple,” Altun, the communications director of the Turkish presidency, stated on X. He also noted that Instagram had not cited any policy violations for its action.
The ban or Altun’s comments were not immediately addressed by Instagram parent company Meta Platforms Inc.
The decision was published on the website of Turkey’s Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) on August 2.