Turkey: Meeting with Instagram to Discuss Ban Issues

The Turkish government has invited officials from Instagram to a meeting, four days after Turkish authorities banned the platform for unspecified reasons. The authorities accuse Instagram, which has been banned in Turkey since Friday, of censorship and failing to remove posts that they deemed offensive. The ban has adversely affected telecommunications operators and parties that rely on the platform to sell their products. Private television channel NTV reported that representatives of the Meta-owned platform in Turkey will meet with Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu. For his part, Uraloglu stated on the X platform that he will meet with them in the afternoon. "We hope they will take the necessary actions in response to our demands. We hope for positive developments," he added. The minister mentioned that Instagram was banned due to "content-related violations" but did not provide further details, stating, "A meeting was held last week with representatives of the platform where we presented our views on respecting Turkish laws."