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Social Networks Censorship

The Sad State of Russia's Social Media Knock-offs (insider.com) 75

Posted by EditorDavid from the splinternet dept.
What happened after Russia blocked 80 million users of Instagram? Reuters reports: A black and white, melancholy alternative to Instagram that asks users to post sad pictures of themselves may launch in Russia this week, its creators said, to express sadness at the loss of popular services such as the U.S. photo sharing platform....

Although people can still sometimes access [Instagram] using a Virtual Private Network, domestic alternatives have started appearing, the latest being 'Grustnogram', or 'Sadgram' in English. "Post sad pictures of yourself, show this to your sad friends, be sad together," a message on the platform's website read.... "We are very sad that many high quality and popular services are stopping their work in Russia for various reasons," Afisha Daily quoted Alexander Tokarev, one of the service's founders as saying. "We created Grustnogram to grieve about this together and support each other."
Insider looks at the larger landscape now for Russia's social media apps: Rossgram joins a slate of Russian versions of major platforms that seek to mimic larger and more popular social media companies, resulting in a landscape of Russian knockoffs that often struggle to attract users while raising questions about how much access the Kremlin has to users' data.... Russia has been trying to coax internet users to turn to its own versions of popular sites, such as YouTube knockoff RuTube, for years. Authorities this year offered online creators the equivalent of $1,700 a month to move their content to RuTube, according to Coda Story, attempting to make up for its minuscule audience.

A 2021 report by the Levada Center, an independent polling organization, found that YouTube is used by 37% of Russians, Instagram by 34%, and TikTok by 16%. But some native platforms hold influence too. Out of Russia's 70 million active social media users, according to research by Linkfluence, a market research platform, 83% use a social media platform similar to Facebook called VKontakte, and 55% use another called OdnoKlassniki. According to Alyssa Demus, an associate international and defense researcher at Rand corporation, Russia has long been building up an ecosystem of alternative social media platforms. But people tend to be more skeptical and cautious when using them out of fear that the government is involved in their operations and users' information isn't secure.

"Either Russia has a hand in the building of the platform from this start, or they strong arm or co-opt whatever is popular later," Demus told Insider. "I know there's significant use of platforms like WhatsApp or others that are believed to be encrypted for that very reason — so that there can be open communication without the fear of reprisal." Russia has also enacted laws to exert influence on non-Russian social media platforms, including passing legislation stating companies need to place their servers for Russian accounts on Russian territory. "Presumably so they can then sort of meddle and do whatever kind of surveillance they need to," Demus said.
Demus adds at one point that "anything Russia touches has the potential to land you in jail."

But the article also notes that younger tech-savvy Russians are using VPNs to access sites blocked by the government — ultimately resulting in a kind of "generation gap" where they're less aligned with pro-government rhetoric from state-controlled media.
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The Sad State of Russia's Social Media Knock-offs More

The Sad State of Russia's Social Media Knock-offs

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  • Here's an idea (Score:5, Funny)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday April 04, 2022 @03:37AM (#62415010)

    Maybe they could all migrate to Truth Social!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Perhaps the take-away here should be that Russians are less vulnerable to foreign fake accounts and bots posting fake^W true news, which means that their own government's fake news goes pretty much unopposed.

      • Re:Here's an idea (Score:5, Informative)

        by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Monday April 04, 2022 @05:42AM (#62415206)

        Perhaps the take-away here should be that Russians are less vulnerable to foreign fake accounts and bots posting fake^W true news, which means that their own government's fake news goes pretty much unopposed.

        No, it's more that if you express regime critical opinions in Russa you either disappear after a 'visit' from some enthusiastic regime supporters or somebody coats your door knob with nerve gas. Either way, it ends badly for you.

        • And if they don't react fast enough, some have reported neighbors leaving manure on their doorstep after expressing an anti war opinion (worst kind of freedom fries).

    • Re:Here's an idea (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Monday April 04, 2022 @09:02AM (#62415516) Homepage

      It is no accident that Donald Trump has consistently been friendly towards Putin, much to the dismay and surprise of Republicans in 2016. But he didn't back down, and today Trump's followers continue to think he--and Putin--are great leaders. They're just being quiet right now because they know their view is suddenly very unpopular.

      So "Truth Social" is indeed appropriate, I'm guessing Putin would approve.

      • today Trump's followers continue to think he--and Putin--are great leaders.

        You should use the mind reading powers you think you have for better uses then trying to read Trump follower's minds.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gtall ( 79522 )

          Errr. . .they have minds? I thought they were just automatons; feed a nugget of misinformation in and out pops the misinformation suitably embroidered with extra BS.

          • I was going to call out that joke but decided it was such low hanging fruit that no one would be petty enough to jump on it.

            I guess my expectations were too high.

        • My own family is full of Trump-followers. I think I have a pretty good idea of how they think. And I can read and listen to what Trump-followers say. It's not a mystery.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gtall ( 79522 )

        Ya, well, the atrocities in Ukraine committed by Russian troops might have something to do with the right-wing nuts remaining quiet. It won't last though, sooner or later they'll twist those atrocities into "justifiable actions (homicides) in defense of the Motherland (Fatherland) caused by NATO expansion, Dark Magic, and gum disease". They aren't the brightest sparks in the fire.

    • Have you seen the content on truth social. It's either insane people or entirely Russian propaganda or both

    • I tried. The app says it has put me into a login queue with an estimated access time of 19,817,328 seconds. The Truth will be stale by then!

  • Your country is invading another country and slaughtering innocent people by the thousands, and your reaction to it is that of a petulant child. Fuck Putin. Fuck Russia.

    • So the earth is warming, CO2 levels are going through the roof and you are sitting warm and comfy behind a PC, in your parents basement reading a forum about tech news and posting about how ... up Russians are? Some call that freedom.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by splutty ( 43475 )

      "For various reasons" has always been shorthand for "We didn't do nuthin' wrong".

      It actually being used properly is rare.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jd ( 1658 )

      All evil is ultimately banal and ordinary. Even with the extraordinary evils that have taken place, there's very little that is not commonplace and few actions are actually abhorred.

      When America did the same in Iraq, Bush's popularity went up to 90%. There were very, very few convictions for war crimes. This was one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] -- and I wonder how many of the far-right in America would have let all of them off.

      Serbia slaughtered Bosnians in their hundreds of thousands. They had rape c

      • What would you have them do, stop caring about the Ukrainian invasion because others didn't receive the same attention? Maybe this is the beginning of a new era where violence as a means to an end is universally renounced.

      • I think they see in Ukraine a symbol of defense of their values -- call them modern Western values -- they believe Ukrainians share with them, or could/would share. From that perspective you are right, because focus on defending one's worldview is unrelated to, and historically at odds with, compassion.

    • As if this will get service restored. The russian troops used children as fucking human shields as they fled Kyiv in retreat. But sad faced images are going to persuade them?!? What fucking fantasyland are they living in?

  • "We created Grustnogram to grieve about this together and support each other."

    Translation: We're as addicted to narcissism as everyone else is.

    And if this is somehow a success financially, then hold on for the ride when social media marketing starts bringing back the dead. Oh, you'll click on that ad when it's a lost-but-familiar face staring back at you. They know you will.

    • I read this as being more ironic than literal, but who knows?

      I'm not saying *this* one will be a success, but in suppressed populations, they use "code" to talk to each other. Who knows... maybe protesting against the the war will be standing in front of a derelict building, looking sad. Support perhaps will be standing in front of fresh laundry - looking sad. I'm reminded of old newspaper adverts offering "french polishing services" or "lunchtime plumbing jobs", or how a pampass grass meant you were a swin

      • ...in suppressed populations, they use "code" to talk to each other.

        Really?

        I'd like for the kids to point on the doll where Suppression hurt them so badly, that they turned an eggplant into a dick.

    • "We created Grustnogram to grieve about this together and support each other."

      Translation: We're as addicted to narcissism as everyone else is.

      And if this is somehow a success financially, then hold on for the ride when social media marketing starts bringing back the dead. Oh, you'll click on that ad when it's a lost-but-familiar face staring back at you. They know you will.

      Nietsche predicted that the death of God would lead to rampant nihilism and the rise of totalitarianism. His famous statement "God is dead" reads in full as "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?"

      His point was that with the rise of scientific thought we have removed all the value judgements in society. Science tells you about the world, but not how to act within it: that was normally the domain of religion (example: 7 deadly si

      • His point was that with the rise of scientific thought we have removed all the value judgements in society.

        He was a fucking idiot, and quotes like this are why he is popular with fascists; the only reason he's ever brought up at all.

        It isn't like he was humble enough to check with a historian, "Say, all the wars are from when countries don't listen to religion, right? The bible thumpers have strong values, right? They're principled and moral?"

  • and also banned google news.

    FB, Instagram and GN didn't decide on their own (or even decide under pressure) to stop access to Russia. Russia *banned* them.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by jlar ( 584848 )

      and also banned google news.

      FB, Instagram and GN didn't decide on their own (or even decide under pressure) to stop access to Russia. Russia *banned* them.

      First, I do think that the Russian regime is doing terrible things in Ukraine and in other places. But even so, there is no need to lose all nuances when describing issues.

      FB did decide to restrict/ban some (government controlled) Russian news outlets from the platform and refused to stop putting fact checks on posts from them. And Russia responded by banning FB due to discrimination of Russian news outlets. Furthermore FB and Instagram decided extra-ordinarily to allow incitement to violence against Russia

      • Re:Ex squeeze me? Putin banned FB and Instagram (Score:5, Insightful)

        by splutty ( 43475 ) on Monday April 04, 2022 @06:08AM (#62415238)

        You can't have nuances with an entity that lies and lies and lies.

      • and also banned google news.

        FB, Instagram and GN didn't decide on their own (or even decide under pressure) to stop access to Russia. Russia *banned* them.

        First, I do think that the Russian regime is doing terrible things in Ukraine and in other places. But even so, there is no need to lose all nuances when describing issues.

        The problem is it's very difficult to include the nuances without implying that both sides are to blame.

        For instance, consider the sentence "Phil and Jim were strangers, Phil was walking down the street and gave Jim a dirty look, then Jim stopped and stabbed Phil in the face".

        To be clear this sentence describes a man committing an unprovoked assault/attempted murder on a stranger, the dirty look might have been a trigger but it hardly counts as a provocation.

        But by including that "nuance" of the dirty look

      • Furthermore FB and Instagram decided extra-ordinarily to allow incitement to violence against Russian military personnel.

        This is sure a twisted up way to say they allow people to make statements in support of Ukrainian self-defense. They just had to phrase it like a Zuck to create a bunch of juicy both-sides.

        • >>Furthermore FB and Instagram decided extra-ordinarily to allow incitement to violence against Russian military personnel.
            Aighearach ( 97333 )
          >This is sure a twisted up way to say they allow people to make statements in support of Ukrainian self-defense. They just had to phrase it >like a Zuck to create a bunch of juicy both-sides.

          Absolutely.

    • My Russian friends tell me that back home people see Instagram etc stop working and think Instagram has blocked Russia in a similar way the West is against them per the only information they are getting from their media.
      Apart from very few, the public cannot believe how it is their own government that has blocked the flow of information to control them. I was then reading stories about people leaving in Ukraine calling their parents in Russia and having a hard time convincing them that their city is actuall

      • Well, remember the four years of Trump. I ran into people who were otherwise smart who would say the dumbest things because it was inconceivable to them that Trump would have ever lied or was not a stable genius. So covfefe, clearly a typo. But no... supporters the next day claiming covfefe was a joke on the liberals and that they fell for it. Because it was inconceivable to them that Trump might have hit 'send' by mistake. Oh, and someone else in the White House used a sharpie to draw on that hurrican

    • No one cares. Whether they were banned or whether they left is completely irrelevant to the end user.

      Also you're being disingenuous. Putin didn't ban FB, he passed a law which FB chose themselves to not abide by. You could have Facebook and Instagram back online tomorrow in Russia if Facebook and Instagram wanted to do business there.

    • Russia banned them.

      In Soviet Russia, information is free to want!

      None of the jokes work, because they're literally self-sanctioning already.

  • The Kremlin is building a membrane that is selectively excluding its own institutions from influence over Russian youth. Well done, you walking parables.
  • I'm worried that Putin won't be amused and will give them something to be sad about.

  • Although people can still sometimes access [Instagram] using a Virtual Private Network, domestic alternatives have started appearing, the latest being 'Grustnogram', or 'Sadgram' in English. "Post sad pictures of yourself, show this to your sad friends, be sad together," a message on the platform's website read.... "We are very sad that many high quality and popular services are stopping their work in Russia for various reasons," Afisha Daily quoted Alexander Tokarev, one of the service's founders as saying. "We created Grustnogram to grieve about this together and support each other."

    Um, do you seriously not get the joke? You somehow get from that to "the sad state of ... "

    It's actually pretty clever and funny.

  • in 2007 LiveJournal was sold to Russian media company SUP Media. The story is because it got super popular for Russian people to post government criticisms there. Russia was pissed but couldn't do anything about the offshore data. So they bought it and took the data in-country. Along with millions of US early 2000s angsty posts.

  • Long waiting lines in the snow for stale state bread

    Sad expressions on kids' faces as they watch cartoons that are much worse than the Soviet era

    Sad drivers pushing their inferior broken down cars

    Sad scenes of workers marching to work with a perpetual frown.

    It seems the Putinists want this kind of thing for their own people.

  • I'm sure he's having fun during the current situation.

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