Social media influencers from across Russia have posted tearful videos bidding their fans farewell following the government’s decision to ban Instagram from today.
36-year-old reality TV star Olga Buzova shared a seven minute video
on Sunday of herself sobbing and crying over the loss of her audience.
In the video, she said in Russian: “I just shared my life, my work, and my soul. I did not do this all as a job for me, this is a part of my soul. It feels like a big part of my heart, and my life is being taken away from me.”
The influencer ended the video by saying she was “going to go and continue crying.”
According to opposition news channel Nexta TV, another Russian influencer cried saying Instagram was “all life.”
The unnamed social media personality said: “Do you think that for me, as an Instagram influencer, this is a source of income?
“To me, it’s all life. It’s the soul. It’s the one thing with which I wake up, fall asleep. F***ing five years in a row.”
Some of the influencers have been heavily criticised for complaining about Instagram being banned rather than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to Insider, one commenter said: “God, in Ukraine, people are dying, children are in the subway, there is nowhere to sleep, they have lost everything, and you are crying because of Instagram.”
Russia blocked Instagram after the platform said it will allow Ukrainians to post death threats to Vladimir Putin
The social site said it wanted to allow Ukrainians to “express their resistance and fury at the invading military forces”.
But top Russian officials started a criminal investigation in protest at the “calls for violence” against Russian soldiers.
The move means a whopping 80 million ordinary Russians are now cut off from using the site.
It is yet another blow to Putin’s country following huge companies such as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Heineken stopping their services in protest at the brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Source: dailynet.co.uk
