Türkiye unblocks Instagram after nine days

Türkiye began unblocking Instagram Saturday evening after depriving access to millions of users for nine days.

"Following our negotiations with representatives of Instagram, we will unblock access starting from 9:30 p.m. (18:30 GMT) after they agreed to respond to our demands," transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said on X.

Instagram access began to progressively return after that time, AFP reporters noted.

"Since the beginning, we have wanted social media platforms to respect the laws of the Republic," Uraloğlu insisted.

The platform had been blocked since the morning of Aug. 2.

Saturday evening the minister mentioned "violations linked to content", adding that Instagram had refused to delete thousands of posts involving "gambling, drugs and abuse of children".

Meta, the owner of Instagram, denied not cooperating, saying it had withdrawn almost 2,500 posts in the first half of the year at the request of Turkish authorities.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's communications director, Fahrettin Altun, accused Instagram of blocking messages of condolence for Ismael Haniyeh, political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas and a close ally of Erdogan's.

Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last month in an attack blamed on Israel.

Between 60 and 70 percent of Türkiye's 85 million inhabitants have an Instagram account, and about $57 million of business is carried out on the site each day, according to Emre Ekmekci, vice-president of an e-commerce association.

Access to the online game Roblox, particularly popular in Türkiye, remained blocked for a fourth day Saturday evening.