According to Roskomnadzor, the decision to block was due to the need to protect against “harassment and insults” and “provide psychological health” Russian citizens, including children and teenagers. Calls for violence based on national identity or citizenship, according to Roskomnadzor, can be characterized as genocide.
The department expressed hope that after the blocking, Instagram users will switch to Russian social networks and will use them, including for doing business.
Since Russia is a country with its own competitive Internet platforms, including VK and Odnoklassniki social networks, with coverage of tens of millions of users, we hope that your transition to these Internet environments will happen quickly, and in the future you will discover new communication and business opportunities.
This text was not published on Roskomnadzor’s website and social networks at the time of the news release. Why the agency decided to distribute it through “Public Services” is unknown.
Earlier, Roskomnadzor gave users two days to leave Instagram. Since Instagram’s active users will need time to transfer their photos and videos to other social networks, notify their contacts and subscribers, Roskomnadzor decided to complete the procedure for imposing restrictions on access to Instagram at 00 o’clock on March 14, providing for an additional 48 hours of transition period for users, the regulator warned.