Russia has officially blocked Instagram since Monday (14/3). Not even a week since it was blocked, the Russian developer is already preparing to launch its clone.
Russian entrepreneurs Alexander Zobov and Kirill Filimonov call their cloned Instagram service Rossgram. This application will be launched on Android and iOS on March 28, 2022.
In his post on VKontakte, Zobov immediately admitted that Rossgram was created as a clone of Instagram. The icons they use even have a similar color scheme to the Instagram logo.
"My partner Kirill Filimonov and our developer group were ready for this development and decided not to miss the opportunity to create a Russian analogue of the popular social network loved by our colleagues," Zobov said. 2022).
According to the translated description on Rossgram's official website, the service will have the same features as the original version, including some new monetization features. According to their Telegram page, Rossgram is also developing a way to move data from Instagram.
Since launching its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has prioritized domestically-made technology. One of them is the AYYA T1 phone produced by Rostec, which has been promoted as a replacement for the iPhone since Apple stopped selling it in Russia.
In November, Gazprom Media, a subsidiary of the Russian-owned oil company, launched short video app Yappy as a competitor to TikTok.
Russia's communications regulator Roscomnadzor blocked Instagram last Monday after Meta allowed users of social media in Ukraine to make violent speeches, including calls to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Meta later tried to reverse his policy and said that calls for death against the country's leader remained prohibited.
Russia, which has previously blocked Facebook and Twitter, has opened a criminal investigation into Meta and asked the court to classify Meta as an 'extremist organization'.