Russia might launch a melancholy alternative to Instagram this week

Users will be asked to post sad pictures of themselves on a black and white, melancholy version of Instagram that will be launched in Russia this week, its creators say. They want to show their sadness at the loss of popular services like Instagram.

Instagram was cut off in Russia from March 14 because its owner Meta Platforms Inc. was found guilty of “extremist activities.” This comes after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. There are about 80 million people in Russia who use Instagram, and Instagram said that blocking it would hurt them. Even though people can still sometimes get into trouble.

Use a Virtual Private Network to get to the photo-sharing site. There are now domestic alternatives, like “Grustnogram,” or “Sadgram,” in English. It said on the site: “Post sad pictures of yourself, show this to your sad friends, and cry together.”

Russia has banned Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp for “extremist activity,” but WhatsApp can stay because it isn’t on the list.

It showed a picture of how the app’s user interface would look. It showed a woman in a fur coat in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral on Moscow’s Red Square. Users can use the search bar to look for things. It tells them to.

sad fellow citizens. Instagram has a heart-shaped “like” button. Grustnogram has a broken heart and the option to “be sad.”

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“Alexander Tokarev, one of the service’s founders, told Afisha Daily that a lot of them are stopping their work in Russia for different reasons.”

“We made Grustnogram so that we could all grieve together and help each other.” Project: Tokarev said that four people, including two freelance programmers, worked on the project. He said he expected the project to be finished by the end of the year.

It’s going to be on Google Play by Friday, and then on the App Store. An app called Rossgram, which looks like Instagram in both name and design and color scheme, was supposed to be released this week. The app’s creators only managed to show off an early prototype a few hours after the launch time.