Discord: Türkiye blocks chat platform

The Turkish authorities have ordered a blocking of the chat and messaging platform Discord, which is particularly popular with gaming fans. The move is described as a measure to curb the spread of child pornography content.

Discord blocked after femicides

Discord users from Turkey currently have to resort to VPNs or other detours in order to continue using the chat platform. The Turkish government has blocked access, which is seen as a kind of youth protection measure. However, the background to the operation is very tragic. As Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç wrote in a post X/Twitter explained that Discord was blocked because there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the platform was being used for crimes such as child sexual abuse and obscenity.

According to Tunç, they are convinced that they need to protect the country’s youth and children from harmful publications on the Internet and social media that can be classified as criminal. There were previously numerous reports and a correspondingly large public outcry in Turkey after screenshots showed how some Discord users glorified the actions of a 19-year-old murderer who killed two young women a few days ago. It was his girlfriend and one of her schoolmates.

This caused Discord to come under fire because the platform offers certain people an opportunity to exchange ideas. It was only on Tuesday that Russia also initiated a widespread blocking of Discord from access from within its country. The reason given by the Internet regulatory authority was that Discord had not complied with Russian state authorities’ demands for the deletion of certain allegedly banned content.