Minister Tunç explains: Is there a possibility of Instagram being blocked again?
Instagram, which was blocked by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) on the grounds that it did not comply with 'catalog crimes,' remained inaccessible for a long time and was reopened after the parties reached an agreement. Minister of Justice Tunç responded to questions about whether this situation might happen again.
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Following the access ban imposed on Instagram, users are wondering whether the platform will be blocked again. A statement on the matter came from Minister of Justice Tunç. Tunç stated that if Instagram does not implement court decisions, 'undesirable situations' could arise.
The Information and Communication Technologies Authority had imposed an access ban on Instagram, and reactions grew like an avalanche. After the reactions and negotiations with Instagram officials, access was restored. Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç responded to a question about whether Instagram would be blocked again during a live broadcast he attended.
Regarding whether it would be possible for Instagram to be blocked again if it does not fulfill the requests of the relevant institutions in Turkey, Tunç explained that there are certain catalog crimes in the law, such as child abuse and terrorist propaganda, and that when a report is made regarding these, the judiciary says "Remove this content," but if it is not removed, gradual penalties such as fines, advertising bans, and bandwidth throttling are applied.
"THEY MUST IMPLEMENT THE COURT DECISION"
Emphasizing that social media companies must respect Turkish law, Tunç used the following expressions:
"(On Instagram) There are both accounts and posts by some members of terrorist organizations aimed at propaganda. Especially when these situations that constitute a crime are sent to the social media company within the framework of court decisions, that account must be closed, and they must implement the court decision.
If they do not take these steps, if the result reaches the point of bandwidth throttling, which is a gradual penalty, of course, an undesirable situation will arise. Would we want a social media platform used by millions of our people to be closed? Of course, we would not."