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Law and JusticeTurkey

Turkey blocks Discord messaging platform

October 9, 2024

Authorities said the instant messaging platform had refused to hand over requested information over "criminal content." The move comes a day after Russia also banned the platform.

https://p.dw.com/p/4la1r
Discord logo is displayed in the Apple App Store
Discord is especially popular with video game fansImage: Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/ZUMA Press/picture alliance

Turkey blocked access to the social media platform Discord on Wednesday, according to a statement published on the website of the BTK communications authority. 

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said an Ankara court decided to block access to Discord from Turkey because there was sufficient suspicion that crimes of "child sexual abuse and obscenity" had been committed by some using the platform. 

"We are determined to protect our young people and our children ... from harmful and criminal publications on social media and the internet," Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

On Tuesday, Russia's telecom watchdog announced a ban on Discord, saying the move was aimed at "preventing the use of messaging for terrorist and extremist purposes."

"We are aware of reports of Discord being unreachable in Russia and Turkey. Our team is investigating these reports at this time," the San Francisco-based company said in a status update. 

What led up to the ban?

The block follows public outrage in Turkey over the killing of two women by a 19-year-old man in Istanbul on Friday. According to media reports, some Discord users praised the killing in the aftermath.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the nature of the Discord platform makes it difficult for authorities to monitor and intervene when illegal or criminal content is shared.

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"Since Discord refuses to share its own information, including IP addresses and content, with our security units, we were forced to block access," he said.

In August, Turkey banned access to the video game platform Roblox, citing content harmful to children. The country also blocked access to Instagram for several days.

What is Discord?

Discord is a US-based social media platform that is very popular among video game fans. It has approximately 150 million users.

Discord provides a free platform to share text, audio and video. It is also used as an internal messaging system by many companies and has become an alternative for people who have turned away from X and Facebook.

dh/wmr (AFP, Reuters)