Russia has promised to block Instagram in retaliation against the social media platform's parent company, Meta. Meta is just the latest company to take action against Russia following the country's invasion of Ukraine, however that action is a bit different from some video game and tech companies that have shut off services.Meta's actions regarding Russia are more in line with companies like Epic Games that are changing the way they do business in and around the region, but weren't completely cutting off services. Instead, the firm was allowing Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russian soldiers in the wake of Ukraine's invasion. Having already cut off access to Facebook and Twitter in Russia, the country announced it would also ban Instagram on Monday.According to the website GlobalCheck, Vladimir Putin's government has followed through on the threat and Instagram execs say the move is going to have a far-reaching impact on communication inside Russia. Not long after the intended ban was announced, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri took to Twitter to make it clear that the move would "cut 80 million in Russia off from one another," as well as from the rest of the world.
Mosseri explained that while Instagram has joined companies like Twitch on the banned list, the repercussions are going to be uniquely impactful. The exec said that 80 percent of people in Russia follow an Instagram account that is based outside the former Soviet country.
The ban of the three biggest social media sites in the world is just the latest salvo in what has become a bit of a proxy war between Putin's government and the West. Earlier this month, Russia started throttling traffic through various websites such as Steam that were still accessible in the country, even if they were planning on leaving or being banned entirely in short order.
Russia's actions are a direct reaction to what has been a tidal wave of disapproval from firms all over the world after Russian forces began a siege of its neighboring country. Sony and Microsoft have both suspended sales of their products in Putin's country, but they are hardly the only ones that have taken that kind of action. Even streaming services that users might not see as definitely taking a side such as Crunchyroll have followed suit and cut off access inside the country. However, cutting off Instagram in the country could have one of the biggest impacts of any site to exit as people also used the social media platform to spread messages against Putin from inside Russia to the rest of the world.
Source: GlobalCheck, The Verge