Instagram Will Hide Followers For Private Accounts In Russia And Ukraine

Instagram hides follower count in its app for Russians and Ukrainians (Photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Russian government has blocked Facebook, and now its fellow app could be next. Instagram has started hiding follower information for personal accounts in Russia and Ukraine.

This is the latest suggestion by the social app of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.

In a company blog post on Tuesday, March 8, Instagram's parent company, Meta Platform Inc., said it "hides information about people's followers, who they follow, and people who follow each other for private accounts based in these two countries."

Meta also confirmed the launch of the label that people will see when sharing links to Russian state media and that Instagram is downgrading the media in its main feed and Stories tray.

In addition, media under the control of the Russian government are not recommended in the Explore section of Instagram or on Reels, its TikTok competitor.

The Russian government has blocked access to Instagram's fellow app, Facebook, along with a number of western media outlets, in a bid to control what Russians see about its bloody invasion of Ukraine.

Instagram has significantly more users in Russia than Facebook, according to third-party estimates, while WhatsApp, which Meta also owns, is the most-used messaging app in the country.