Türkiye stated on Wednesday it had blocked entry to the moment messaging platform Discord following a courtroom resolution amid issues over platform security and the suspicion of crimes involving minors.
The nation’s infotech regulator, the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), revealed the choice on the entry ban on its web site.
Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç stated early on Wednesday {that a} courtroom within the capital, Ankara, determined to take away entry from Türkiye to San Francisco-based Discord on account of adequate suspicion that the crimes of “child sexual abuse and obscenity” have been dedicated.
“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,” Tunç additionally stated in a publish on X.
The entry ban resolution comes after public outrage brought on by the homicide of two girls perpetrated by a 19-year-old man earlier this month.
Following the incident, content material on social media confirmed some customers of Discord have been praising the killing, which led to public outrage towards sure communities on the platform.
Reports additionally advised that sure teams on Discord goal youngsters by grooming, blackmail, sexual abuse and cyberbullying.
Separately, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated on Tuesday that it was decided by Ankara Police Department that the particular person named “Hz. Ebu Cehil,” one of many administators of the group named “C31K,” which is actively concerned within the Telegram and Discord social networking platforms, “is a child named E.K., and he was taken into custody by our Zile District Police Department teams under the coordination of our Ankara Police Department.”
“The person named ‘Arda Bateman’ was identified as a child named A.T. and was taken into custody by our Istanbul Police Department,” he added.
He stated that their statements can be taken by the general public prosecutor below the supervision of a psychologist.
“We will not show mercy to those who try to poison our society, especially our children and youth, the apple of our eye, with their perverted thoughts on social media,” Yerlikaya stated on X.
The resolution to ban entry to the platform after a large outcry and quite a few posts shared on social media comes after an identical case earlier this 12 months when Turkish authorities blocked entry to Roblox, a gaming platform largely utilized by youngsters, over comparable abuse issues.
Social media platforms, together with Telegram and X, have been below main scrutiny just lately after the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France and the ban of Elon Musk’s X in Brazil.
On Tuesday, Russia’s communications regulator additionally blocked Discord for violating Russian regulation after beforehand fining the corporate for failing to take away banned content material, the TASS news company reported.
Source: www.dailysabah.com