Turkey has officially blocked access to the popular instant messaging platform Discord, citing a court decision after the company refused to comply with demands to share user information with the government. The move was confirmed on Wednesday by Turkish authorities.
Discord, headquartered in San Francisco, responded to reports that its services were being blocked in both Turkey and Russia. “We are aware of reports of Discord being unreachable in Russia and Turkey. Our team is investigating these reports at this time,” the company stated in a status update.
Turkey’s Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) posted the court’s access ban on its official website. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc explained that the ban stems from concerns over crimes of “child sexual abuse and obscenity” allegedly being committed by some users on the platform.
The ban comes in the wake of public outrage in Turkey over the murder of two women by a 19-year-old man in Istanbul earlier this month. Following the killings, social media content showed that Discord users had praised the violence, further intensifying calls for action against the platform.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu highlighted the difficulty Turkish authorities face in monitoring platforms like Discord. “Security personnel cannot go through the content. We can only intervene when users complain to us about content shared there,” he said. Uraloglu added that Discord’s refusal to provide key information, such as IP addresses and content details, left the government with no choice but to block access.
Discord is also facing challenges in Russia. On Tuesday, Russia’s communications regulator blocked the platform for allegedly violating local laws, after previously fining the company for not removing prohibited content.
Turkey’s action against Discord reflects an ongoing trend of governments worldwide seeking greater control over online platforms in order to monitor criminal activity and enforce local laws. However, critics argue that such bans also limit freedom of speech and access to information.
