Russia Bans Instagram

Russia has banned Instagram following Meta's decision to temporarily allow violent speech directed towards Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as 'death to the Russian invaders.' We still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

Following the announcement, Russia said it would block Instagram.


"Users of Facebook & Instagram did not give the owners of these platforms the right to determine the criteria of truth and pit nations against each other," said the Russian embassy.

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri confirmed Russia's intent.

On Monday, Instagram will be blocked in Russia. This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as ~80% of people in Russia follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is wrong.

Today, Russia followed through. GlobalCheck now shows that Instagram is completely blocked in the country.


Russian users may be able to use a VPN to get around the block. NordVPN has kept around its 10th birthday deal which offers users 70% off a two year subscription plus a free month, year, or two years of extra subscription time. That discount is available to users in any country. For privacy purposes, we suggest everyone have access to a VPN.

While Instagram did not voluntarily pull out of Russia, numerous tech companies have stopped providing services in the country. Apple has paused all sales in Russia and stopped exports to the country. Microsoft has suspended all new sales of products and services. Samsung has suspended all product shipments to Russia and Google has turned off Play Store billing in the country.

Please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for more updates.