Turkey has blocked access to the instant messaging platform Discord following the platform's refusal to comply with government requests for data. The San Francisco-based company confirmed that it was investigating reports of service interruptions in both Turkey and Russia.

The ban, announced by Turkey's Information Technologies and Communication Authority, comes after a court decision citing suspicions of crimes related to child sexual abuse and obscenity on the platform. Justice minister Yilmaz Tunc explained that the court had sufficient grounds to impose the restriction due to these allegations.

The decision coincides with rising public anger following the murder of two women by a 19-year-old man in Istanbul. Posts praising the murders appeared on Discord, sparking further backlash and raising concerns about the platform's role in the dissemination of harmful content.

Transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu highlighted challenges faced by Turkish authorities in monitoring illegal activity on Discord, which operates with a degree of anonymity that hampers oversight. He remarked, "Security personnel cannot go through the content. We can only intervene when users complain about content shared there." Uraloglu added that Discord's refusal to provide user data, including IP addresses and content details, left the government with no choice but to block access.

This move also follows a similar decision by Russia's communications regulator, which blocked Discord on Tuesday for allegedly violating national laws by not removing banned content. Russian authorities had previously fined Discord for non-compliance.