Influencers mourn the loss of their Instagram lifestyles
TECH-SAVVY Russians who have built up online businesses and hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram have started to say their farewells to their last accessible Western social media platform.
For Moscow street photographers, tattoo artists in Siberia and fashion-conscious influencers partying in St Petersburg, Instagram had become a favourite online hangout. So there was a palpable sense of loss among these mainly young Russians who are having to close their accounts after the Russian government announced it would be banned from tomorrow.
“I have had my favourite job taken away from me,” said Alina Ochka, who goes by the name of Maniloun on her Instagram account.
“Instagram has helped me to develop and most importantly given me a voice.” She had built up more than 250,000 followers on her Instagram account, which focused on her gothic style and interest in tattoos. The account generated 60 per cent of her income through adverts.
Like many others, she has asked her followers to shift over to the Russian Telegram messaging system and two government-linked social media websites but she wasn’t hopeful. These sites are considered less user-friendly and monitored by the authorities.
After Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on Feb 24, the West imposed harsh sanctions on Russia and Russian companies that were designed to ruin its economy and to make life in Russia less comfortable and less fun. Netflix and YouTube suspended their services and TikTok, which is owned by China, also banned Russian users from uploading new content after Russia brought in laws that made it a criminal offence to post criticism of its war in Ukraine.
The Russian authorities have also banned Instagram, which is owned by
California-based Meta and is the parent company of the already-banned Facebook, for allowing its platform to be used to call for violence against Russian soldiers. They have also said the ban will help the mental health of young people who they said were being corrupted by Western social media.
But Russian Instagrammers have said that the ban means they are now facing a funding crisis and an existential crisis over what to do with their lives.
Alex Brain, an Instagrammer with more than 300,000 subscribers wiped away a tear from her eye as she looked into the video camera. To her, closing Instagram was the end of the world. “If you still think that for me, as a blogger, Instagram is only a source of income you are deeply mistaken,” she sobbed.
“Damn, this is my whole life, this is my soul, this is what I have woken up with and fallen asleep with for five years.”