Turkey blocks access Discord over child safety concerns

Turkey has blocked access to instant messaging platform Discord following a court decision, the country's infotech regulator said on Wednesday.

Turkey's Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) published the access ban decision on its website.

Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said a court in the capital Ankara decided to remove access from Turkey to San Francisco-based Discord due to sufficient suspicion that the crimes of "child sexual abuse and obscenity" have been committed.

"We are determined to protect our youth and children, from the harmful publications of social media and the internet that constitute crimes. We will never allow attempts to shake the foundations of our social structure," Tunc also said in a post on X.

The access ban decision comes after public outrage caused by the murder of two women, perpetrated by a 19-year-old man earlier this month.

Following the incident, content on social media showed some users of Discord were praising the killing which led to public outrage against certain communities on the platform.

On Tuesday, Russia's communications regulator blocked Discord for violating Russian law, after previously fining the company for failing to remove banned content, the TASS news agency reported.