Russian tech entrepreneurs are gearing up to launch a new photo-sharing social media app called “Rossgram.” This app will be available in the domestic market, exclusively for Russians.
Rossgram is launched to fill the void left by Instagram, which was blocked by authorities earlier this week.
The upcoming app, Rossgram is slated to launch on 28th March. It is said to have additional features and functions. It will include paid access to some content as well as crowdfunding, as disclosed on the app’s website on Wednesday.
Public relations director of Rossgram, Alexander Zobov, wrote on the VKontakte social platform that his partner Kirill Filimonov and their developer’s group were already prepared to launch the app. But due to the sudden turn of events, they got an opportunity to create a popular social network app for the Russians. They are expecting everyone to like the new app once it is launched in the market.
Roskomnadzor, Russian state communications regulator blocked Instagram access in Russia from Monday. This decision was passed after its owner Meta said that they will allow users from Ukraine to post-death messages to Russian invaders.
Meta, previously known as Facebook, informed that the change in their gate speech policy is temporary and is applicable only in Ukraine. Meta took this decision after Ukraine was invaded by Russia. The US tech giant believes that it will be wrong to stop Ukrainians from expressing their fury and resistance to the invading Russian forces.
On Sunday, Meta informed that they are altering their content moderation policy for Ukrainian users.
Russia, which already banned Facebook in the country, has instigated a criminal investigation against Meta. Russian prosecutors termed Meta as an extremist organisation.
Based on an image posted by Zobov on Vkontakte, we can tell that Rossgram’s layout and colour scheme is strongly similar to Instagram. However, Meta declined to give any response regarding Rossgram’s layout and design.
In recent months, Russia has been working to develop and strengthen its domestic technology. This includes AYYA T1 smartphones which are manufactured by Rostec, a state conglomerate.
Back in November 2020, Gazprom Media released Yappy, which is considered a domestic rival to the popular video-sharing platform TikTok.
Rossgram is all set to launch on 28th March. The creators of Rossgram are trying to occupy the domestic market in the absence of Instagram. They are aiming for all Russian Instagram users to use Rossgram.