Russia could get a black and white, melancholy alternative to Instagram, which asks users to post sad pictures of themselves. The creators want to express sorrow at losing access to the US-based photo-sharing platform. 

Grustnogram, which translates to “Sadgram” in English, is Russia’s latest offering and the website reads “Post sad pictures of yourself, show this to your sad friends, be sad together”. 

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The user interface shows a woman in a fur coat standing in front of St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. The search bar instructs users to find sad compatriots. The sad alternative has also done away with Instagram’s like button, which is heart-shaped. Instead, users can click on a broken heart here and have the option to be sad. 

Alexander Tokarev, one of Grustnogram’s co-founders, told Afisha Daily, as per Reuters, “We are very sad that many high quality and popular services are stopping their work in Russia for various reasons”, adding, “We created Grustnogram to grieve about this together and support each other”. 

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He detailed how four people spearheaded the project, including two freelance programmers. The plan is to make the app available on Google Play by end of the week, and have it later on the App Store. 

Russia banned Instagram on March 14 as Moscow tries to control the flow of information against big tech, regarding its actions in Ukraine. The decision has affected nearly 80 million Russian users of the app, though it can still be accessed using a virtual private network (VPN). 

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Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, the country has been fighting an information war, where it has sought to suppress the setbacks faced and lives lost executing military operations in the neighbouring country. Apart from banning Instagram, Russia has also passed a law where it becomes a jailable offence to spread what Kremlin deems to be fake news about its military and actions abroad.