In early March, Russia continuously blocked a series of social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, accused the companies of “discriminating” against Russian state media and violating federal law by restricting access to Russian media. access to the accounts of some media units.
After the above incident, developers in Russia quickly seized the opportunity and launched a series of domestic social networks to replace blocked services.
Among them, Rossgram is the first application to be announced. The platform looks a lot like Instagram, from the color palette, icons to other branding features. The creators of Rossgram call this Russia’s answer to Instagram.
Besides, Grustnogram was also released. Grustnogram, or Sadgram in English, is known as a black-and-white version of Instagram, where Russians can post dark, melancholy photos to ” lament” online isolation.
“We are saddened that many good and popular services for various reasons have been suspended in Russia,” said the creators of Grustnogram.
Alexander Tokarev, the creator of Grustnogram, said that he was inspired to develop the app after seeing Rossgram. In total, it took four people seven days to put the site together.
Recently, several Russian state media and government agencies have started posting their videos on RuTube. This platform is developed by Gazprom-Media and is seen as an alternative to YouTube.
In addition, on the upcoming 9/5, Russia will also launch the NashStore application – an alternative of Google Play. The platform will use the Mir payment system, which is intended to replace Visa and Mastercard.
Even before the outbreak of conflict, Russian authorities provided funds for influencers to switch to the platform, a recent investigation found. Uploads are reviewed by moderators before being posted to the site, but Russians who register through the government website including passport data may be “authorized.”
Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of Russia said: “The goal of this mechanism is to meet the demand for intellectual goods. So far, we have not been able to sell them on national territory without the consent of the owner. license.”
The list of products, which will likely include movies, TV shows and video games, will be created and managed by a Russian government agency.
This policy essentially reverses decades of efforts to crack down on pirated movies and other content available in black market stores or on social networks like VKontakte. The company has prided itself on its efforts to remove illegally uploaded videos in recent years.
On March 30, Putin also ordered government agencies to stop orders for a number of foreign operating systems, including popular Microsoft products, “in the interest of ensuring the independence of the country.” on the technology and security of Russia’s critical information infrastructure”. Russian government offices have been ordered to stop using foreign operating systems by 2025.
For now, however, some Russian officials and even agencies like the Ministry of Defense continue to use apps like Facebook despite the official decision to ban it from parent company Meta.
When launching similar versions with globally famous social platforms, Russia will face intellectual property problems. Regarding this, on March 30, the Russian government announced that it will start implementing a parallel import mechanism, which allows to bypass copyright restrictions.