Australian National Review – Turkey orders to block disagreement over ‘child sexual abuse and obscenity’ allegations

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President Tayyip Erdogan’s justice minister has vowed to protect Turkey’s youth from “harmful online content” in his latest crackdown on social media companies.

Turkey has blocked access to Discord following a court ruling over allegations of “child sexual abuse and obscenity” on the platform.

The country’s infotech regulator, the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, published the decision on the access ban on its website.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told a Turkish court that he had decided to ban access to the US company Discord due to sufficient suspicion that crimes of “child sexual abuse and obscenity” had been committed.

At the request of Ankara’s chief prosecutor, the court ordered the removal of all publications from the social media platform. Tunc said that is why access to specific URLs on Discord is restricted in the country.

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

Disagreement

The decision to ban access follows public outrage over the murder of two women, committed earlier this month by a 19-year-old man.

Following the incident, social media content showed some Discord users praising the killing, sparking public outrage against certain communities on the platform.

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Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday on The two people, children, have been arrested.

“We will show no mercy to those who try to poison our society, especially our children and youth, the apple of our eyes, with their perverse thoughts on social media,” Yerlikaya said.

“Wherever you hide in the cyber world, our cyber patrols will find you one by one and bring you to justice.”

With a predominantly young user base and popularity among the gaming community, Discord has gained over 150 million active monthly users and works by using servers to create communities.

Forbidden

In August, Turkey also blocked Roblox, a gaming platform popular among children and teens like Discord, after similar allegations of child abuse.

Tunc said at the time that a Turkish court had imposed the access block as part of an investigation by prosecutors in the southern province of Adana over concerns about content that could lead to child abuse.

In response, Roblox said: “(We are) committed to doing everything we can to keep our community safe, and we share global policymakers’ commitment to protecting children.”
The Erdogan government also blocked access to Instagram following a top Turkish official’s accusation that the social media site blocked condolence posts over the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Hamas terror group.
In 2023,

Turkey has a law requiring social media companies to remove “disinformation” content and share user data with authorities if they post content deemed criminal, including misleading information.

Social media companies are also required to appoint Turkish representatives, and they face bandwidth cuts of up to 90 percent immediately after a court order if the representative fails to provide information to authorities.

Lawmakers

In January this year, US lawmakers urged social media executives including Discord, Meta, Snap, TikTok and X to tackle the issue of child sexual exploitation online.

“Social media companies, as they are currently designed and operated, are dangerous products,” Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in his opening remarks at a committee hearing on the issue. “They destroy lives and threaten democracy itself. These companies must be reined in or the worst is yet to come.”

Discord Inc. CEO Jason Citron said more than 60 percent of users are between 13 and 24 years old. He praised the money Discord spent to purchase an artificial intelligence tool aimed at eliminating bad actors.

Discord CEO Jason Citron testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on January 31, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)Discord CEO Jason Citron testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on January 31, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Discord CEO Jason Citron testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on January 31, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the committee, asked Citron how well its platform protects children if it can’t use automated tools to patrol servers with fewer than 200 users.

“So how do you defend a security approach that relies on groups of fewer than 200 self-reporting sexual predators?” Durbin asked.

“We use a wide range of techniques that work on any surface on Discord,” Citron replied.

The Epoch Times reached out to Discord for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Austin Alonzo and Reuters contributed to this report.

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