A ruling by Turkey’s top court that canceled certain powers of the Presidential Communications Directorate, viewed by many as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s propaganda headquarters, was removed from its website on Friday, the same day the country banned access to Instagram, Turkish media reported on Friday.

The decision by the Constitutional Court to annul parts of a presidential decree that granted the communications directorate extensive powers was announced on social media but quickly taken down, sparking allegations of censorship and government overreach. The move coincided with a sudden and unexplained ban on Instagram, affecting millions of users nationwide.

On Friday morning Turks woke up to find that Instagram, one of the most popular social media platforms in the country, had been blocked. The decision by the Turkish Telecommunications Authority (BTK) was initially met with confusion as users reported being unable to refresh their feeds or access their accounts. The BTK’s website cited the platform not abiding by directives pertaining to “catalog crimes” as the reason for the ban, without providing further details.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said on Friday that Instagram’s access ban in Turkey was due to the platform’s failure to comply with legal warnings. He emphasized that the ban will be lifted once Instagram adheres to the country’s laws and regulations, noting that Turkish authorities are in discussions with the platform’s local representatives to address these issues.

Simultaneously, the Constitutional Court’s website became inaccessible shortly after it posted a ruling that annulled parts of a decree empowering the communications directorate to act against what it deems misinformation or manipulation. The court found the decree in violation of freedom of expression and the press as guaranteed by the Turkish Constitution.

The Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC) was quick to condemn both the Instagram ban and what appeared to be the blocking of the court’s website. “In a country without internet freedom, it is impossible to talk about freedom of the press and freedom of expression, human rights and modernity. The internet plays a crucial role in the public’s access to news and information. The blocking of Instagram, which is used by 57 million people, is censorship. The same goes for the Constitutional Court’s website,” the TGC said in a statement.

The Progressive Journalists’ Association (ÇGD) echoed these sentiments, stating, “The frequent bans on social media platforms and the hindrance of access to information is unacceptable. The latest Instagram ban and the removal of the Constitutional Court’s decision are systematic attacks on freedom of the press and freedom of expression.”

The communications directorate, led by Fahrettin Altun, has been under scrutiny for its role in shaping the government’s narrative and combating what it terms disinformation. Before Friday’s ban on Instagram, Altun accused Instagram of censorship for blocking a message of condolence he posted for Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Hamas who was killed in Tehran. Altun’s post claimed that Instagram was suppressing free speech.

The directorate responded to allegations regarding the accessibility issues of the Constitutional Court’s website. Through its “Center for Combating Disinformation” social media account, the directorate denied any deliberate action to block the site.

“Some social media accounts claim that ‘the Constitutional Court’s website has been blocked.’ This is not true. The website was not deliberately blocked,” the directorate said. “Certain media outlets attempted to link this issue to the Constitutional Court’s decision, manipulating the situation. The site experienced accessibility issues due to high traffic following the publication of the decision in the Official Gazette. Please disregard these unfounded claims.”

However, the message did not explain why the top court removed the press statement and the ruling from its website.

Turkey has been going through a constitutional crisis since the Supreme Court of Appeals defied the Turkish Constitutional Court’s rulings in 2023 about opposition lawmaker Can Atalay, who was convicted over the anti-government protests he led in 2013. This unprecedented move led the appeals court to file criminal complaints against members of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court maintained that the appeals court’s refusal had no legal standing, declaring Atalay’s conviction and imprisonment null and void, thus demanding his immediate release. Atalay remains incarcerated, and the parliament stripped him of his status in January, which the top court says is also null and void.

Fog of censorship

The Instagram ban has significant implications in Turkey, where the platform is widely used for personal communication, business and media.

As the Instagram ban took effect, President Erdoğan’s official account posted a “Happy Friday” message on the platform, which was later deleted. Critics argue this move highlights the arbitrary nature of the ban, suggesting it is selectively enforced.

Legal experts and human rights organizations have criticized the government’s actions as a breach of fundamental freedoms.

İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), criticized the Instagram ban, calling it an unacceptable arbitrary act and calling for an immediate halt to the restriction. He emphasized the important role of social media in communication and commerce and later conducted a live broadcast on the banned platform to further denounce censorship and advocate for the public’s right to access information.

Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of Turkey’s armed drone manufacturer Baykar, supported the ban on Instagram, stating that the platform, like others owned by Meta, had acted irresponsibly by blocking messages of condolence for assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Bayraktar criticized Instagram for allowing content in other regions while selectively censoring messages in Turkey, calling it part of a broader problem of social media platforms being used as tools of war and propaganda. He pointed to his own experience of having his accounts shut down due to similar censorship.

Turkey has a history of blocking access to websites and social media platforms. Wikipedia was blocked between 2017 and 2020, and platforms like Twitter and YouTube have faced similar restrictions. These actions are often justified under broad and vaguely defined legal terms, such as “threats to national security” or “protecting public order.”

In 2023, Turkey blocked access to 953,415 websites and domain names, based on 821,285 different decisions made by 833 institutions and judicial authorities, according to the Freedom of Expression Association.