Turkey began restoring access to Instagram on Saturday evening after a nine-day nationwide block that left millions of users in the dark.
The decision to unblock the platform came following successful negotiations between Turkish officials and Instagram’s parent company, Meta.
“Following our negotiations with representatives of Instagram, we will unblock access starting from 9:30 pm (1830 GMT) after they agreed to respond to our demands,” Turkey’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced on X (formerly Twitter).
The block, which began on August 2, was shrouded in mystery, with Turkish authorities initially providing no clear explanation. On Saturday, Minister Uraloglu revealed that the ban was due to Instagram’s failure to comply with Turkish laws regarding content related to “gambling, drugs, and child abuse.”
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According to Uraloglu, Instagram had initially refused to delete thousands of posts that violated these regulations. However, Meta countered this claim, stating that it had already removed nearly 2,500 posts in the first half of the year at the request of Turkish authorities.
The situation was further complicated by accusations from Fahrettin Altun, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s communications director, who alleged that Instagram had blocked messages of condolence for Ismael Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and a close ally of Erdogan. Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last month in an attack attributed to Israel.
The blockade affected a significant portion of Turkey’s population, with 60 to 70 percent of the country’s 85 million inhabitants reportedly using Instagram. The platform is also a major driver of e-commerce in Turkey, with an estimated $57 million in daily business transactions.
While Instagram access has now been restored, the online game Roblox, which is especially popular among Turkish youth, remained blocked as of Saturday evening, marking the fourth day of its ban. The government has not yet provided an update on when or if access to Roblox will be restored.
