Russians plan a melancholy version of Instagram after the ban

Russians plan a melancholy version of Instagram after the ban.  

According to its designers, a black-and-white, melancholy rival to Instagram urges users to share sad photographs of themselves. 

Therefore, it could begin in Russia this week to convey regret at the loss of popular services like the U.S. photo-sharing platform.

As Moscow tries to control information flows with Big Tech after sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24. 

It limited access to Instagram on March 14 and later declared its owner, Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), guilty of “extremist actions.”

According to Instagram, the decision to block it will affect 80 million Russian users. 

Although users can still use a Virtual Private Network to access the photo-sharing platform, domestic alternatives have emerged, the most recent being ‘Grustnogram’ or ‘Sadgram’ in English.

A post on the platform’s website said, “Post sad images of yourself, show this to your unhappy pals, and be sad together.”

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A woman in a fur coat stood in front of St Basil’s Cathedral on Moscow’s Red Square to illustrate the app’s proposed user interface. The search bar instructs individuals to look for sorrowful fellow citizens.

Grustnogram replaces Instagram’s heart-shaped ‘like’ button with a broken heart and the option to ‘feel sad.’

“We are really sad that numerous high-quality and popular services are ceasing to operate in Russia for various reasons,” one of the service’s creators, Alexander Tokarev, told Afisha Daily. “We established Grustnogram to share our grief and support one another.”

Tokarev claimed the project was led by four people, including two freelance programmers. The software would be available on Google Play by the end of the week, followed by the App Store.

Rossgram, a name, design, and color scheme rip-off of Instagram was supposed to start this week. Still, its creators only managed to post a video of a prototype hours after the intended launch time.