Turkish president slams social media 'fascism' amid Instagram battle

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused social media networks of "fascism" and censorship on Monday as his government blocked Instagram for a fourth day.

The US-owned platform, which has an estimated 50-60 million subscribers in Turkey, has been accused by government officials of censorship and failing to remove posts the authorities deem offensive.

Turkey's BTK communications authority ordered access to Instagram frozen on Friday, without giving a reason. Company representatives have been summoned to a government meeting on Monday.

"We are facing digital fascism," Erdogan told officials from his ruling Truth and Justice (AKP) party.

He said social network platforms "cannot even tolerate photos of Palestinian martyrs without immediately banning them".

"These companies have declared war, in the virtual world, on the glorious resistance and heros of the Palestinian people. They act like the mafia every time their interests are at stake."

Last Wednesday, Erdogan's communications director Fahrettin Altun accused Instagram of preventing people posting messages of condolence over the assassination of Ismael Haniyeh, political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas and a close ally of Erdogan's.

Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on Wednesday in an attack blamed on Israel.

Double standards

Erdogan said social media networks "respect the rules in America and Europe but deliberately ignore them when it comes to fighting unlawful content in Turkey".

Transport and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said on Friday that Instagram, which is owned by US tech giant Meta, had been suspended for ignoring demands to remove "criminal content".

An anonymous BTK source said this included "insults to Ataturk", the founding father of modern Turkey, "drug games (and) paedophilia".

Erdogan said the government had tried to "establish a dialogue" with the platforms but had not yet "managed to fully achieve cooperation".

Uraloglu said on the X platform that he was "hoping for positive developments" from Monday's meeting.

The Instagram freeze has hit numerous businesses who rely on the platform.

The vice-president of the e-commerce operators' association, Emre Ekmekci, estimated the ban was costing 1.9 billion Turkish lira, or nearly $57 million, per day in lost business.

10% of online retail sales in Turkey are conducted through social media — amounting to 930 million lira per day, he told the private CNCB-E television.

'OPEN UP!'

Between 60%-70% of Turkey's 85 million inhabitants have an Instagram account.

"Hundreds of thousands of people find customers (and) do business on Instagram," professor of finance Ozgur Demirtas said on X.

"Thousands of people on Instagram set up export links (and) pay TAX," he added in a message that ended: "OPEN UP!"

Online content creator Ozan Sihay said the suspension would affect whole swathes of the economy.

"I don't understand people who are happy about influencers being out of a job," he said on X.

"This ban will harm numerous sectors and individuals," he said listing "advertisers who've paid thousands of lira"; artists and creators of music and film for whom "Instagram is an important showcase"; and small businesses who sell their merchandise and craft products through e-commerce.

He said it would affect major brands, for whom Instagram was "a massive advertising platform"; public institutions who published announcements on the network; and the tourist industry, who found hotel and restaurant clients through it.

"I hope this is a mistake that will be corrected as soon as possible," he concluded, saying the authorities needed to provide "explanations".

Turkish authorities have temporarily blocked access to social media sites, including Facebook, X and Wikipedia in the past.