According to internet monitoring agency GlobalCheck, Russia's announced a ban on Instagram went into force today, making the social media platform unavailable to the large majority of the country's population. In response to parent company Meta's move to allow Facebook and Instagram users in various countries to call for violence towards Russian soldiers following the country's invasion of Ukraine, Last week, the nation revealed plans to prohibit Instagram. To control information about the battle, Russia has been gradually restricting access to online platforms and has already blocked Facebook and Twitter.

Russian Influencers Posted Farewell Message on Instagram

Russian Instagram influencers sent out farewell messages to their followers over the weekend, advising people to follow them on other platforms or use VPN software to get over the government's ban.

"This decision will shut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the globe," Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri warned in a tweet last Friday. "It is untrue that 80% of Russians follow an Instagram account from outside their nation."

Karina Nigay, a Russian fashion influencer, criticized the ban in a live stream. "This is my work," Nigay stated."Imagine you've recently lost your job and aren't getting paid at all, but you still have expenses for your family and, if you have subordinates, for your team, and you suddenly don't have any money to pay them."

Instagram has given Russians, notably affluent billionaires and their families, a forum to voice out against the war. Sofia Abramovich, the daughter of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, sent an anti-Putin message on Instagram before deleting it, while rich Russian banker Oleg Tinkov said the conflict was "unthinkable and irresponsible."

Meta's President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg

Last week, Meta's President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, stated that the company's policies are centered on safeguarding people's right to free speech as a kind of a self-defense in the event of a military invasion of their nation.

"The reality is that if we enforced our usual content restrictions without any tweaks, we would today be eliminating material from ordinary Ukrainians expressing their opposition and indignation at the invading armed troops," he claimed.