Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 5 slammed social media platform Instagram after his government banned the platform in the country, Duvar English reports.

Speaking at his Justice and Development Party (AKP) building for an event, Erdoğan said, “All institutions and organizations that are lions when it comes to Turkey are turning into cats and dogs when it comes to Israel. At this point, we are witnessing social media companies behaving like a mafia in every issue that touches their interests, they have become unruly.”

“We are faced with a digital fascism that cannot even tolerate the photos of Palestinian martyrs and bans them immediately, and markets this as freedom,” Erdoğan further said.

Turkey blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Aug. 2 for failing to comply with the country's “laws and rules,” a government minister said.

However, the move came after a senior Turkish official accused Instagram of blocking condolence posts following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Erdoğan’s remarks in this line suggest that banning the platform is related to Palestine.

“Criminal and terrorist networks are making the propaganda they want on these platforms. The care (these platforms) show in complying with the rules in the U.S. and Europe is deliberately withheld when it comes to Turkey. We have met many times before, but we could not establish the necessary cooperation,” Erdoğan further said.

Moreover, Erdoğan criticized those protesting the ban, and deemed them “house slaves.”

“Those who don't say a word against social media platforms are lining up to complain about Turkey to the West. Those who do not criticize the infamy of social media platforms, those who do not speak out against the fascism they unleash, are lining up to complain about Turkey to the West. This is not how to defend freedoms. This is called 'house slavery.’ More Western than Western, the only aim of the house slaves is to ingratiate themselves with their owners,” he noted.

In related, Turkey’s Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said Instagram had not met conditions to lift the access block. “We did not get exactly the result we wanted, we are following up and actively discussing.” Uraloglu said on Monday.

Media outlet Haber Global said Turkey had put a list of demands to Instagram in a meeting.

“The delegation headed by Uraloglu emphasised that messages of support for the [Kurdish militant groups] PKK, PYD and FETÖ [Ankara’s name for exiled Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen’s network], which are on Turkey’s list of terrorist organisations, should also be blocked by algorithms,” it wrote.

Reportedly, the Turkish side also “criticized the algorithms blocking messages of condolence published by Turkish officials for Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh”, following his recent assassination in Iran, which has been linked to Israel.

Users in Turkey cannot currently access Instagram via web and mobile applications but access is still possible via VPN services.

“Millions of people are being deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends, and business are no longer able to reach their customers,” a META spokesperson said on Monday adding that META is doing everything to restore Instagram in Turkey.

According to the Istanbul Planning Agency, IPA, the municipal statistical agency, Turkey’s recent decision to block Instagram could lead to daily economic losses of about 1.9 billion Turkish liras or some 52.1 million euros.