Turkey blocks instant messaging platform Discord

Turkey has blocked access to the instant messaging platform Discord following a court decision after the platform refused to share information demanded by the government, the country’s infotech regulator said on October 9.

Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said a court in Ankara decided to remove access from Turkey to San Francisco-based Discord due to sufficient suspicion that the crimes of “child sexual abuse and obscenity” have been committed.

“We are determined to protect our youth and children, from the harmful publications of social media and the internet that constitute crimes. We will never allow attempts to shake the foundations of our social structure,” Tunc also said in a post on X.

The access ban decision comes after public outrage caused by the murder of two women perpetrated by a 19-year-old man earlier this month.

Following the incident, content on social media showed some users of Discord were praising the killing. This led to public outrage against certain communities on the platform.

On October 8, Russia’s communications regulator also blocked Discord for violating Russian law, after previously fining the company for failing to remove banned content, the TASS news agency reported.

“The access to Discord is being restricted in connection of violation of requirements of Russian laws, compliance with which is required to prevent the use of the messenger for terrorist and extremist services, recruitment of citizens to commit them, for drug sales, and in connection with unlawful information posting,”  BKT press service has said.

Russia has for several years ordered foreign technology platforms to remove content it regards as illegal, issuing relatively small but regular fines when it rules that companies have failed to comply.

Last week, Roskomnadzor— the Russian federal executive agency responsible for monitoring and controlling media— ordered Discord to delete almost 1,000 items it deemed illegal. It has previously fined the company for failing to remove banned content.

Moscow blocked Twitter, which has since been rebranded as X, as well as Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In the past few months, many European countries have decided to ban or partially restrict access to direct messaging applications or social media platforms.

On  September 20, Kyiv decided to ban the use of the messaging app Telegram for officials, citing security concerns.

In May, Paris banned the social media platform TikTok on its Pacific territory of New Caledonia amid unrest claiming “foreign interference” on the island.