Istanbul (National Times) Turkiye has blocked access to the social media platform Instagram, the country’s infotech regulator said on Friday, without stating a reason or duration for the ban, which also left the platform’s mobile app inaccessible.

The move follows comments on Wednesday by Turkish communications official Fahrettin Altun, criticising the platform for what he called its decision to block condolence posts on the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, a key official of the Palestinian group Hamas.
“This is censorship, pure and simple,” Altun, the communications director of the Turkish presidency, said on X, adding that Instagram had not cited any policy violations for its action.

There was no immediate comment from Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc META.O on either the ban or Altun’s comments.

Turkiye’s Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) published the Aug 2 decision on its website.