Mediascope: Instagram audience fell 5 times in a year, Facebook – 3.5 times

In February 2023, Instagram (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and banned) was visited on average once a day by 6% of Russians over 12 years old. The average daily coverage of the social network fell five times compared to the same month last year (31%), according to Vedomosti with a link to Mediascope data.

The audience of Facebook (also owned by Meta) decreased 3.5 times over the year – from 7% to 2%. The average daily coverage of Telegram in February of this year increased by almost 1.8 times – from 23% to 41%. The audience of VKontakte grew 1.15 times, to 44%, Odnoklassniki — 1.12 times, to 18%. Tiktok’s average daily reach remained at its February 2022 level of 27%.

According to Mediascope, Russians are also spending less time on Instagram and Facebook. The time of consumption in the first social network fell by 2.4 times over the year, to 17 minutes a day, while the second — by 3 times, to 5 minutes. At Tiktok, the time of daily consumption decreased by 1.2 times, to 65 minutes. For Telegram, this indicator increased by 1.4 times, to 39 minutes, for VKontakte and Odnoklassniki it remained at last year’s level – 45 and 32 minutes, respectively.

March 21, 2022 Tverskoy Court of Moscow acknowledged Meta is an extremist organization. The reason was the information that the management of the American company allowed users from Ukraine to call for violence against the Russian military. Prosecutor General’s Office spokethat the use of Facebook and Instagram “not for the purposes of extremism” will not be considered as his support. October Meta enabled in the list of Rosfinmonitoring extremists and terrorists.

Details – in the publication “Kommersant” “Extremists were added to the list of terrorists”.

Laura Keffer