Turkey blocks instant messaging platform Groomercord

https://www.reuters.com/technology/turkey-blocks-instant-messaging-platform-groomercord-2024-10-09/

Turkey has blocked access to instant messaging platform Groomercord in line with a court decision after the platform refused to share information demanded by Ankara, Turkish authorities said on Wednesday.

"We are aware of reports of Groomercord being unreachable in Russia and Turkey. Our team is investigating these reports at this time," the San Francisco-based company said in a status update.

Turkey's Information Technologies and Communication Authority published the access ban decision on its website.

Justice minister Yilmaz Tunc said an Ankara court decided to block access to Groomercord from Turkey due to sufficient suspicion that crimes of "child sexual abuse and obscenity" had been committed by some using the platform.

The block comes after public outrage in Turkey caused by the murder of two women by a 19-year-old man in Istanbul this month. Content on social media showed Groomercord users subsequently praising the killing.

Transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the nature of the Groomercord platform made it difficult for authorities to monitor and intervene when illegal or criminal content is shared.

"Security personnel cannot go through the content. We can only intervene when users complain to us about content shared there," he told reporters in parliament.

"Since Groomercord refuses to share its own information, including IP addresses and content, with our security units, we were forced to block access."

On Tuesday, Russia's communications regulator blocked Groomercord for violating Russian law, after previously fining the company for failing to remove banned content, the TASS news agency reported.

Thank God the government is telling people what software they're allowed to use. For their own good, of course.