The Turkish leader's comments came as officials were in discussions with representatives of the social media platform to reinstate access.
ADVERTISEMENTTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused social media platforms of “digital fascism” in his first comments on the country's imposed ban on Instagram.
The Turkish leader’s comments came as officials were engaged in discussions with representatives of the Meta-owned social media platform to reinstate access to millions of users in Turkey.
The country's Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) blocked access to the popular social media application on Friday morning without giving a reason.
But the move came after Turkey's Head of Communication Fahrettin Altun criticised Instagram for allegedly blocking posts of condolence for the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political bureau chief who was killed in a predawn airstrike in Tehran, Iran last week.
Erdoğan accused social media platforms on Monday of acting like a mafia and said they could not "even tolerate photos of Palestinian martyrs".
Unlike its Western allies, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terror organisation. A strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Erdoğan has described the group as a liberation movement.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said Turkish authorities had met with representatives of the Meta-owned company last week and held a fresh round of talks on Monday without reaching a resolution.
“We didn't get the exact result we wanted,” Uraloğlu said.
Instagram has more than 57 million users in Turkey, a nation of 85 million people, according to We Are Social Media, a digital marketing news company based in New York.
