His name is Rossgram and his mission will be to fill the gap left by the Instagram ban in Russia. After Roskomnadzor , the Russian censorship body, complied with the threat to block the social network service on March 14, more than 60 million users lost access to the social network. On March 11, Meta announced a relaxation of the hate speech restrictions it operates under. That day Nick Clegg, the company’s president of International Affairs, commented: “We have made temporary concessions for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules, such as violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’…although we will not allow credible calls to violence against Russian civilians” . The change of criteria applies to some Eastern European countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Russia and Ukraine and was not to the liking of the government of Vladimir Putin.
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In a blog post, Roskomnadzor expressed its feelings about the change in policy: “On March 11, Meta Platforms Inc. made an unprecedented decision to allow the publication of information containing calls for violence against Russian citizens. on their social networks Facebook and Instagram .
Since yesterday the Instagram service in Russia is completely blocked and Rossgram, a social network developed by Alexander Zobov and Kirill Filimonvo, has raised its hand as an alternative. Rossgram will be released on March 28 and on its official page you can read a description of what it offers:
“On March 28, 2022, the Russian analogue of Instagram will be launched, with familiar functionality and mobile applications for Android and iOS. Rossgram will also have additional monetization tools for users: paid access to content, crowdfunding function, referral program and others. Right now you have the opportunity to become the first users with special privileges. Access will be open first to top bloggers and partners (sponsors and investors). Regular users will have access in April 2022.”
Instagram is a very popular social network in Russia, used by brands as an essential tool to communicate and interact with their potential customers. According to Statista , the Russian market is the fifth in number of users (only surpassed by India, the United States, Brazil and Indonesia).