Russians are enjoying their last moments scrolling through Instagram on Sunday, while bloggers and small businesses that rely heavily on the platform scramble to garner online followers elsewhere. other.
Moscow announced this week that access to the social network would stop, accusing Instagram’s parent company Meta of turning a blind eye to calls for violence against Russians.
In a farewell post, reality TV star Olga Buzova – who has the second largest audience in Russia with 23 million followers – expressed disappointment and distrust.
“Right now, I’m writing this post and am crying,” she wrote, captioning the text with a crying emoji. “I hope this isn’t true.”
Fashion blogger Karina Nigay, who meanwhile boasts close to three million followers, is still dealing with the reality of the ban that is in effect.
“I’m in a state of resentment and nowhere near acceptance,” she says.
The move comes as part of President Vladimir Putin’s longstanding efforts to rein in control over what Russians can and cannot access on the Internet.
These efforts have increased at breakneck speed since he announced Russia’s sweeping military incursion into Ukraine and as authorities struggled to control how the conflict was perceived at home.
Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor this week said Instgram had been taken down for allowing posts inciting violence against Russians.
But the official Gosuslugi website, which hosts government services, says Instagram will be taken down starting March 14 citing the “mental health” of Russians and efforts to protect children. from “bullying and insulting”.
Gosuslugi also recommends that Russians return to homegrown platforms that have been abandoned as the popularity of Instagram and Facebook soars.
– ‘We would live without it’ –
Many bloggers said on Instagram they would switch to VK, the Russian equivalent of Facebook.
It is closest among Russian social media platforms to Instagram in terms of its features but has also been accused of doing business with the authorities.
Russians are also turning to Telegram, a network already hugely popular in Russia and across the former Soviet Union, which Moscow tried to block a few years ago – and ultimately failed – to block.
The app was created to be a messaging service but also hosts channels where users can post photos and videos with text.
45-year-old painter Alexei Garkusha told AFP in Saint Petersburg that he would be among those switching to Telegram.
It’s “more interesting,” he said, sounding less concerned about Instagram’s fate.
“If they turn it off, they turn it off!” Garkusha shrugged.
In farewell posts, bloggers lamented the need to rebuild their followings and businesses, at a time when the economy is struggling under Western sanctions.
“Ironically, many people say that bloggers will eventually overcome their dependence on easy coins,” said Alexandra Mitroshina, a user known for teaching others how to make money after they monitor.
“But don’t forget that half of our SME businesses are linked to Instagram and Whatsapp,” she told her two million followers.
For many Russian small businesses, Instagram is the primary platform for advertising, handling sales, and communicating with customers.
But former reality TV star, Buzova, is among those optimistic that her work can continue on other platforms and urged her followers to join her on VK.
“Of course it will be difficult and unusual but together we are strong,” she wrote.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said the platform has 80 million users in Russia.
On the streets of the Russian capital Saint-Peterburg, some say the ban is a pity, but not the end of the world.
Yelena Teleginskaya, 31, said: “I don’t think anything catastrophic globally will happen.
Others were pleased to see the back of it, like 45-year-old engineer Nikolay Yeremenko.
“If they close, that’s for the best. We’ll live without it,”
