Türkiye restricts Discord access due to child safety concerns and crime issues | #childsafety | #children | #children | #parents | #schoolsafe

ANKARA

Türkiye early Wednesday restricted access to the popular messaging platform Discord, citing ongoing discussions about the platform’s role in online crimes involving minors.

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In a statement, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced that access to Discord from Türkiye has been restricted due to sufficient suspicion of crimes such as “child sexual exploitation and obscenity.”

The move follows the shocking murder of two women in Istanbul last week, which sparked public outrage, especially after offensive discussions and activities related to femicides surfaced on the platform.

In-depth investigations have revealed a range of criminal activities carried out by malicious groups on Discord, including “personal data theft, child blackmail, harassment, credit card theft, animal torture and pedophilia.”

Public outrage has been exacerbated by the spread of videos and messages online showing minors being blackmailed into committing self-harm or providing money.

The Discord debate echoes a similar case from earlier this year, when Turkish authorities blocked access to Roblox, a popular gaming platform for children and teens, after allegations of child abuse and grooming.

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Prior to the access ban, Tunç issued a content warning to social media and network providers. He recalled that judicial investigations into criminal content on certain social network providers and websites have been initiated by the Chief Public Prosecutors.

Tunç stressed that network providers and websites that do not comply with court decisions and remove the specified content will face strict enforcement of sanctions such as fines, advertising bans, bandwidth reduction and access blocking.

Tunç emphasized Türkiye’s status as a rule of law, claiming: “Social network providers and websites operating in our country and having millions of users must comply with the laws and regulations of the Republic of Türkiye. No one has privileges.”

He further stated that attempts to harm young people and children will not be tolerated, adding: “We will never compromise our resolve in the fight against crime and criminals.”

Discord is a widely used voice, video and text chat app with tens of millions of users. As of December 2020, it had over 300 million registered users and 140 million monthly active users. Discord is available on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and web browsers, allowing users to create voice, text, or stage channels for more organized communication between large server communities.