Discord blocked in Turkey

Turkey has blocked access to the messaging platform Discord following a court ruling after the company declined to provide information requested by Ankara, authorities announced – cited by Reuters.

Discord, based in San Francisco, acknowledged reports of the platform being inaccessible in both Russia and Turkey, and stated that they were investigating the situation.

Turkey's Information Technologies and Communication Authority posted the access ban decision on its website. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc explained that an Ankara court ordered the block due to suspicions of crimes such as "child sexual abuse and obscenity" being committed by users on the platform.

The ban follows public outrage over the recent murders of two women by a 19-year-old in Istanbul. Social media posts showed some Discord users praising the killings, adding to the controversy.

Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu noted that Discord's structure makes it challenging for authorities to monitor illegal content, as the platform does not share user data like IP addresses. Due to Discord's refusal to cooperate with Turkish security forces, the government decided to block access.

Less than a month ago, Discord introduced end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for audio and video calls. This move ensures that even Discord cannot access the content of these conversations, enhancing user privacy.

The rollout covers DMs, Group DMs, voice channels, and Go Live streams. Users can verify when their calls are encrypted and confirm the identities of other participants. The encryption protocol is nicknamed "DAVE" by the company.

However, Discord has stated that private text messages will not receive this encryption upgrade. These messages will still be subject to the platform's moderation policies, with no plans to extend E2EE to direct messages or group chats at this time.

First, it was Threads

Turkey made headlines earlier in 2024 when Meta announced plans to temporarily shut down its Threads platform there, starting on April 29, due to an order from the Turkish competition authority.

In a blog post, Meta assured users that anyone using Threads in Turkey is to be informed of the shutdown through the app before the deadline. Turkish users had the option to either deactivate their Threads profiles or delete them entirely. If a user deactivates their profile, their posts and interactions will be visible again if Threads becomes available in Turkey in the future. Users could also download and save their data using the "Download Your Information" tool at any time.

The shutdown is linked to an ongoing investigation by Turkey's competition authority, which is looking into whether Meta abused its market dominance by integrating Instagram with Threads. The investigation, initiated in December, is focused on concerns that data shared between the two apps could violate competition laws and cause harm to the market.

Until the investigation reaches a conclusion, the interim order will remain in place.

In a separate case earlier in 2024, the Turkish regulator fined Meta 4.8 million lira ($148,000) per day over a lack of transparency in a notification related to data sharing between Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The authority argued that Meta’s notification was unclear and did not properly address concerns about anticompetitive behavior, particularly in how users are prompted to consent to sharing their data.