Access to Discord has been restricted.

Recently, access to the written and visual messaging platform Discord, which has been in the spotlight due to crimes such as blackmail, pedophilia, and sexual abuse targeting children and young people, as well as its role in spreading deviant movements, has been restricted by the decision of the Ankara 1st Magistrate Court.

ACCESS RESTRICTION TO DISCORD

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced that judicial investigations have been initiated regarding criminal content on certain social networks, particularly Discord and Telegram, following the emergence of cyberbullying on these platforms. He also stated that sanctions such as bandwidth throttling and access restrictions would be applied to social network providers that do not comply with judicial decisions. Shortly after Minister Tunç's statement, a decision was published stating, "Access to discord.com has been restricted by the Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace with the decision dated 09.10.2024 and numbered 2024/12907 D.".

MINISTER TUNÇ: WE WILL NEVER ALLOW IT

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç, who announced the decision on his social media account, stated, "Upon the request of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace has decided to restrict access from Turkey to all broadcasts of the social media platform named Discord, as there is sufficient suspicion regarding the commission of crimes of 'sexual exploitation of children and obscenity' as stated in Article 8/1 of Law No. 5651 on 'Regulation of Publications Made on the Internet and Combating Crimes Committed by These Publications'. We are determined to protect our youth and children, the guarantee of our future, from the harmful publications that constitute crimes on social media and the internet. We will never allow attempts to undermine the foundation of our social structure.".

SHOCKING IMAGES ON DISCORD

Following the recent increase in news about violence against women and femicides, social media platforms and messaging applications have come under the radar of law enforcement. It has been revealed that some communities established on the application called Discord have made horrific statements about all national and spiritual values, as well as topics such as murder and death, under the guise of dark humor. It has also been learned that many individuals involved in the shocking images on Discord earn their living through blackmail, and in a video circulated on social media, a person saying, "We earn money by blackmailing" was seen stating, "No one can stop us".