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Turkey has blocked access to Discord following a court decision, according to the country’s infotech regulator.
As reported by Reuters, the ban from Turkey’s Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) was due to suspicion of “child sexual abuse and obscenity,” according to justice minister Yilmaz Tunc.
“The Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace has decided to remove all publications from the content of the social media platform called Discord, and block access to the specified URL addresses from Turkey, due to the existence of sufficient suspicion that the crimes of “child sexual abuse and obscenity,” he said.
Compliance with Turkish laws
Tunc claimed the decision came as the government looked to protect children from the “harmful publications of social media and the internet that constitute crimes”.
“Social network providers and websites that broadcast in our country and have millions of users must also comply with the laws and rules of the Republic of Turkey,” said Tunc. “No one has any privileges.”
The ban on Discord in Turkey comes just after Brazil unbanned the social platform. Russia’s communications regulator has also blocked Discord for violating Russian law.
Turkey has previously banned other communications and games platforms. In August it blocked access to Roblox due to similar concerns over content that could exploit children, amongst other factors.
Meanwhile, Turkey also moved to block photo and video sharing social network Instagram.
