Instagram is not the first... Which social media platforms have been blocked in Turkey to date?

YouTube was blocked in 2008 due to videos alleged to contain insults against Atatürk. Users in Turkey were unable to access this popular video-sharing platform for approximately two years. In 2010, the access ban was lifted following the removal of the relevant videos.

Twitter was blocked in Turkey in 2014 during a period when posts with political content were intensifying. The then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan advocated for the platform's closure, arguing that Twitter was "causing the spread of content that threatens the country's security." The ban was lifted shortly after by a court order.

In 2015, Facebook was subjected to access restrictions for certain periods on the grounds that some pages were conducting propaganda in favor of terrorist organizations. These restrictions were generally temporary and ended with the removal of the relevant content.

Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey in 2017 due to certain articles that portrayed the country as being in cooperation with terrorist organizations. This ban lasted for approximately three years and ended in 2020 following a Constitutional Court ruling on freedom of expression.

In 2020, TikTok faced short-term access restrictions due to the spread of various unethical content and the violation of user privacy. TikTok managed to lift these restrictions by meeting Turkey's demands.

Reddit was subjected to access bans in 2015 and 2021 due to posts related to obscene content and illegal activities. In both periods, the platform managed to have the access ban lifted by removing the relevant content.

In 2021, threats of access bans against Instagram and WhatsApp emerged following the introduction of a requirement for platforms to host user data within Turkey as part of the country's social media laws. However, the platforms prevented these bans by cooperating with Turkey.

The story and poetry sharing platform Wattpad is among the platforms that have been blocked.

Wattpad was blocked from access on Tuesday, July 16, by a decision of the Ankara 10th Criminal Court of Peace. Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, one of the founders of the Freedom of Expression Association, reacted to the ban by saying, "We have likely become the first country in the world to block access to Wattpad."

Access to the website of the LGBTI+ dating and networking app Hornet was blocked in 2020.

One year later on the same date, users who downloaded and used the Hornet app from Apple were unable to access it. In a message sent to Apple users, Hornet stated that the application had been removed by Apple as a result of a "decision by Turkish courts."

In a ruling dated November 22, 2023, and published on February 6, 2024, the Constitutional Court (AYM) ruled that the access block was a violation of freedom of expression.

Hornet, an LGBTI+ dating and networking app used by more than 35 million people worldwide, has approximately three million users in Turkey.

Grindr, an app similar to Hornet, has also been inaccessible in Turkey since 2013.

Users in Turkey resort to methods such as VPNs to access Grindr.