Hannah Grace Tech 03.13.2022 23:Mar PM EDT

Russian Bloggers Cry Over Instagram March 14 Shutdown

Bad news for Instagram users in Russia! Instagram has just shut down its operations today, March 14, and known bloggers from the country are not happy with it.

Among the said bloggers who shared their sentiments are Olga Buzova, and Karina Nigay.

Fortunately, there are other Russian native social media platforms including VKontakte (VK), and OdnoKlassniki (OK).

Russia Shuts Down Instagram

Agence France-Press (AFP) reported through The Moscow Times that Moscow cut down access to the Meta-owned social media platform Instagram this week, accusing Meta of ignoring incitement to violence against Russians.

To further emphasize, it occurred after Meta announced last week that the platform would allow Ukraine users to post messages such as "Death to the Russian invaders," per Reuters.

The parent company of Instagram also stated through Reuters that the temporary change in its hate speech policy only applies to Ukraine. This move helps Ukraine users in "expressing their resistance and fury at the invading military forces."

In order to prevent Russian users from losing their content, the country's official communications regulator advised people to back up their photographs and videos to another platform before the Instagram shutdown.

Several Russian bloggers have expressed their grief over the death of Instagram in their country.

For instance, the reality TV star Olga Buzova, who has more than 23 million Instagram followers, shared her sentiment over the shutdown hoping that this issue is not true.

Apart from Buzova, fashion blogger Karina Nigay, who has nearly 3 million followers on the platform, was still in shock and processing the fact of the ceasing operation.

Instagram has been shut down during the midnight of March 14.

Other Platforms That Russians Can Use After Instagram Shutdown

According to a study from Statista, the video streaming platform YouTube has been the most popular in Russia for the past years. In 2020, YouTube accumulated 85.4% of users' share in Russia.

Placing in fourth place, Instagram accounted for 61%. Instagram's active users are mostly 25 to 35 years of age.

Since the Instagram shutdown affected most of its Russian users, Startup.info shared several platforms that citizens can use such as VKontakte (VK), OdnoKlassniki (OK), Moi Mir (My World), and Rutube.

VKontakte (VK) has more than 97 million active users per month which are considered the largest social media platform used in the country. In terms of its usage, Startup.info stated that this Russian app has similarities with Facebook works.

To emphasize its style and functionality, users can also create their profile, search and add friends, keep updated on their friends' status posts, videos, and photos.

With regards to the age target of this platform, it aims to reach people younger demographic under 35 with its integrated file sharing capability. Apart from Facebook, it also has similarities with YouTube when it comes to uploading video and audio files.

Moreover, VK has an English interface which is ideal for international brands to share their content with young audiences.

Aside from VK, the platform OdnoKlassniki (OK) is also one of the apps that Russian users can use after the Instagram shutdown.

With the popularity among older users, OK is the second largest Russian social media platform with more than 71 million users. Similar to UK's native app, Friends Reunited, this platform also reconnects users with their old friends and school classmates.

For those who do not know, the Russian word Odnoklassniki means classmates.

OK also allows users to create a profile, share their status and images, as well as search for friends.