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(London, August 9, 2024) Türkiye Human Rights Watch and the European Commission said that on August 2, 2024, the authorities’ arbitrary decision to completely block access to Instagram violated the rights of millions of users to free expression and access to information. Free Speech Association (İfade Özgürlüğü Derneği, İFÖD) said today. The blockade also disrupted Turkish small business owners who relied on the platform to conduct their business.
Türkiye’s government-controlled internet regulator, the Information and Communications Technologies Authority BTK has not yet announced the reasons for blocking access to Instagram. However, the move comes two days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed a communications chief. Blaming Instagram’s parent company MetaA message of condolence to former Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran on July 31, was deleted.
“Blocking everyone’s access to an entire social media platform is a grossly disproportionate measure that infringes on the rights to free expression and information of millions of social media users in Turkey and should be rescinded immediately,” he said. Deborah Brown“Disagreements over certain government decisions to remove or allow certain content on a platform should never be used as an excuse to block access to the platform entirely.”
Government officials have made conflicting statements about the ban, with some claiming it was because the platform failed to comply with requests to remove allegedly criminal content. With no official explanation, millions of Turkish users are left in the dark about the ban. Human Rights Watch and the Freedom of Expression Association said the Turkish government should ensure that user access is immediately restored.
Social media platforms should uphold users’ right to free expression and information, take bold steps to challenge government decisions to block their platforms, and publicly announce what steps they will take to protect users’ rights in response to arbitrary blocking decisions.
Turkey has waged a massive crackdown on the media in recent years, with social media one of the last platforms where people can get independent news and express themselves relatively freely. Türkiye’s Restrictive Internet LawsThe move gives authorities the power to arbitrarily block and remove websites and other online content. Turkish officials have previously used the power to block entire platforms.
Turkey has previously blocked access to Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Google Sites (a wiki and web page creation tool developed by Google) and WordPress in the country. In July and August, authorities also blocked access to the popular Wattpad and Roblox platforms.
Turkish officials have indefinitely blocked Deutsche Welle and Voice of America’s news platforms in the country since June 2022. EngelliWeb Project of the Free Speech Association Announce As of the end of March, Türkiye had blocked more than a million websites.
In the decision Google Sites, Youtube, twitterand Wikipediathe European Court of Human Rights and Turkey’s own Constitutional Court have all ruled that freedom of expression and the public’s rights to access and impart information have been violated.
Under international law, governments have an obligation to ensure that any The law sets out restrictions on online informationis a necessary and proportionate response to a specific threat and is in the public interest.
“Blocking access to the Instagram platform is not only unconscionable, but also arbitrary, as the details of the Turkish Internet Regulator’s decision have not yet been made public and the blocking order was issued without a court order,” said Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, one of the co-founders of the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD). “This is a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression and access to information, as well as the constitutional obligation to guarantee an effective remedy through the courts.”
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