Prohibition Of Instagram In Turkey, As A Result Of Billions Of Dollar Loss And International Tensions!

Turkish Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, (photo: x @a_uraloglu)

JAKARTA The Turkish government will hold a meeting with Instagram officials on Monday 5 August after blocking access to the social media platform last week. This was said by the Turkish Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, in an upload on X (formerly Twitter).

The ban comes after a senior Turkish official accused Instagram of blocking the post of condolences for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Uraloglu said that Turkey had disclosed certain sensitivities related to compliance with Turkish law in previous meetings with Instagram representatives.

A Meta spokesperson, an Instagram-owned company, stated, "As a result of Instagram blocking in Turkey, millions of people lose their daily way of connecting with family and friends, and businesses can no longer reach their customers as before. We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services."

Turkey's head of communications, Fahrettin Altun, on Wednesday, July 31, criticized Instagram for what he called "pure and simple censorship," in connection with his decision to ban the post of condolences to Haniyeh following his assassination in Iran's capital, Tehran, on July 31.

Iran and Hamas accused Israel of carrying out the attack that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran's new president. Israel has not yet claimed responsibility.

Turkey ranks fifth in the world in terms of using Instagram, with more than 57 million users, after India, the US, Brazil, and Indonesia, according to the Statista data platform.

Thousands of people on X protested the access ban, with the hashtag Turkey translating as an "accessban, bringinstagramback, e-commercehalted" becoming the top trend in Turkey since the ban was imposed.

Among those who were unhappy with the ban were Baskak, 34, who ran the handmade jewelry design account on Instagram with more than 30,000 followers. He said the ban interfered with his business.

"Some of my customers contacted me via Instagram using VPN and other social media platforms, but my chances of reaching new people and potential customers were immediately stopped," he said. "My sales are declining. If this ban continues, I can't survive because I can't reach a wider audience."

Internet watchdog NetBlocks estimates that the ban on Instagram access cost Turkey around 11.5 million US dollars (Rp186.2 billion) every day. Turkey's ETID e-commerce association estimates that Turkey's business generates around 900 million lires (Rp437.3 billion) from Instagram every day, said deputy chairman Emre Ekmekci.

"If this ban continues, there will be a gradual shift from sellers to users to other platforms," he added. "We hope this meeting will be positive and both sides can find a solution. This is not only a political issue, but also an impact on the commercial sector."