Russia made good on its threat from last week, and has banned Instagram for almost everyone residing in the country, effective today. The latest restriction on free speech, communication, and outside media comes as Putin’s government moves to punish Western companies for speaking out against the continuing crisis in Ukraine, targeting Meta in particular. On Friday, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri warned of the upcoming blacklisting via Twitter, expressing his dismay at the worsening geopolitical situation.
“This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as ~80% of people in Russian follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is wrong,” he wrote. This now virtually completes a wholesale Russian ban on Meta’s social media products, with only WhatsApp still available for citizens. Over 80 percent of the nation also uses the messaging service.
