Russia bans Instagram as promised, blocking access for 80 million users

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

According to internet monitoring service GlobalCheck, the social media platform is unavailable for the vast majority of the country's population.

The country announced plans to ban the photo-sharing app last week in response to the parent company's decision to allow users in some countries to call for violence against Russian soldiers. Russia has been trying to control the flow of information about the war and has banned social media sites.

Last Friday, Adam Mosseri, the CEO of the photo-sharing service, said in a statement that the decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as 80% of people in Russia follow an account outside their country. This is not correct.

On Monday, Instagram will be blocked in Russia. This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as ~80% of people in Russia follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is wrong.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 11, 2022

Over the weekend, Russian social media stars posted farewell messages to their followers, encouraging them to follow them on other platforms or use a proxy to escape the state's ban.

In a live video, Nigay decried the ban.

Nigay thought the ban might be good for Russian fashion brands. She responded to commenters who were unfavorably comparing her complaints to the plight of Ukrainians by saying, "Listen, to those who are writing all sorts of filth, all these propaganda stories, I absolutely don't give a shit."

Wealthy Russians and their families have a platform on the photo sharing site to speak out against the war. The daughter of a billionaire shared an anti-Putin post on the photo sharing site, but deleted it after a wealthy Russian posted that the war was unacceptable.