'Social network for the sad': Russians plan to launch melancholy version of Instagram

According to its creators, the app was developed to express sadness at the loss of popular services such as Instagram, which is owned by US-based Facebook.

After the Russian government restricted access to photo-sharing social media platform Instagram, some locals have developed an alternative platform called 'Grustnogram', or 'Sadgram' in English. It is a black and white melancholy version of Instagram which asks its users to share sad pictures of themselves.

Image courtesy: https://grustnogram.ru/

According to its creators, the app was developed to express sadness at the loss of popular services such as Instagram, which is owned by US-based Facebook.

'Social network for the sad,' reads the tagline on its site. In the description it says "Post sad pictures of yourself, show this to your sad friends, be sad together." The application is expected to appear on Google Play by the end of the week, and later on the App Store.

Instead of a heart-shaped button to like a picture, Grustnogram offers a broken heart and the option to 'be sad'.

It is founded by Alexander Tokarev, along with three others, according to a report by news agency Reuters. "We are very sad that many high quality and popular services are stopping their work in Russia for various reasons," Afisha Daily quoted Tokarev as saying. "We created Grustnogram to grieve about this together and support each other," he added.

In a sweeping crackdown on western social media giants amid the war in Ukraine, Russia banned Instagram earlier this month. Subsequently, it also banned its parent company Facebook after labelling it "extremist". Some people can still use Instagram through Virtual Private Network (VPN), meanwhile, many Russians have developed alternative versions of the platform.

On February 24, Russia launched a full-blown offensive as it sent hundreds of troops to neighbouring Ukraine. Since then, Russian authorities have steadily tightened controls over coverage related to the invasion. They have also been actively arresting people participating in anti-war protests.

(With inputs from Reuters)