Turkey’s decision to block access to Instagram has hit female entrepreneurs who rely on the popular social media application to sell everything from cookies to bed sheets.
“We’ve been using Instagram to showcase our products and reach out to a wider client base,” said Ezgi Akincilar, founder of online retailer Antalya’dan Iste, which sells food products from honey and jam to canned artichokes.
Akincilar estimates that she owes more than half of her revenue to users who find her via Instagram. “There’s no other platform to take its place,” she said by phone.
Turkey’s internet regulator halted Instagram access on Aug. 2 without explaining why. It came after a senior aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the platform for what he described as “censorship” of posts related to the death of Ismail Haniyeh, political chief of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Transport and Infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu later cited broader motives including “attacks” against Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, unauthorized betting and “posts of a sexual nature.” He also accused Instagram of censorship.
Instagram’s owner, Meta Platforms Inc, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg.
Sinem Kocabas, who a year ago received an entrepreneurship award by state-run Halkbank, says sales have all but stopped. Her “Dear Deer Love” venture, which sells baby products such as mattresses and bed clothes, owes about 60% of its revenue to business flow from Instagram.
“Everyone is losing money. Some companies may even shut down if this ban isn’t lifted soon,” Kocabas said.
Demand Drop
The ban comes at a delicate moment for Turkish businesses, with domestic demand slowing after the central bank hiked its benchmark interest rate to 50% from 8.5% in less than a year to rein in inflation.
Spending on credit cards, widely used for online purchases, has been flat since April even for essential items, the central bank said in a report on Thursday. Discretionary spending has been contracting in real terms.
The decision to block Instagram may “disrupt communications and result in client dissatisfaction,” said Esra Bezircioglu, chairwoman of the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey. Such disruptions would create “strategic hardship” for businesses, she said in an emailed response to Bloomberg.
The prospect of the ban being lifted is uncertain. On Aug. 6 the minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, cited “significant progress” in talks with Instagram, without giving details. Social media companies “shall abide by the laws of our country,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said.
“We’re in a tight spot,” said Fatma Gonca Yurtseven, a survivor of the February 2023 twin earthquakes in the southern Hatay province. She’s part of a collective of women who sell local produce online under the “Hatay Bohcasi” brand.
“We don’t have any other channels for this business,” Yurtseven said. “Many women are earning their living from this. We don’t know what to do.”
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