Grustnogram, A Melancholy Instagram Clone, Invites Russian Netizens To Express Their Sadness

'Grustnogram', or 'Sadnogram' in English, is expected to become Instagram in Russia. (photo: https://grustnogram.ru/)

JAKARTA – An application similar to Instagram with a black and white melancholy appearance will appear. This app asks its users to post sad photos of themselves. The social media app will probably launch in Russia this week.

This new social media application is considered to be able to express sadness over the loss of the popular US photo-sharing platform service.

Russia restricted access to Instagram from March 14 and later found its owner Meta Platforms Inc found guilty of "extremist activity". Moscow is struggling to control the flow of information from Big Tech after its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Instagram says the decision to block their app will affect 80 million users in Russia. Although people can still sometimes access photo-sharing platforms using a Virtual Private Network, alternatives to domestic platforms are now starting to emerge. The latest application is for example 'Grustnogram', or 'Sadnogram' in English.

What started as a joke between friends quickly became something that could work, Sadnogram co-creator Ivan Semkin told Reuters on Wednesday, March 30.

"We tried to draw a concept, it took a day or two, we tried to make it look good and we realized it came out really well, and that's a really good thing that we can show other people," said Semkin, who hopes the Russian government will support their project.

"Post a sad photo of yourself, show this to your sad friend, let's be sad together," wrote a message on the platform's website.

An image of the app's planned user interface shows a woman in a fur coat standing in front of St Basil's Cathedral on Moscow's Red Square. The search bar tells the user to look for his sad compatriot.

Instead of Instagram's heart-shaped 'like' button, Sadnogram offers a heartbreak button and the option to 'sad'.

"We are very sad that many high-quality and popular services have stopped their work in Russia for various reasons," Afisha Daily quoted Alexander Tokarev, one of the service's creators, as saying. "We made Sadnograms to grieve together and support each other."

Tokarev said four people, including two freelance programmers, were behind the project and said he expects the app to appear on Android devices by the end of the week, and then on the App Store.

Rossgram, an Instagram clone in name, design, and color scheme, will launch this week. However, its founder only managed to publish a prototype video a few hours after the scheduled launch time. Failure is already in sight.