A popular beauty influencer has been threatened with a six-year jail sentence for using Instagram in Russia.
Veronika Loginova, 18, who runs a beauty and fashion account, has been accused of “extremist activity”. According to the influencer, two state prosecutors called at her home claiming she “stands out too much”.
In a post to her followers, the influencer said: “This can now happen to anyone in Russia.
“Any day prosecutors can come to your house. I never touched politics and now I face six years in jail for running an Instagram account.” Beauty influencer, 18, facing six years in Russian jail because she Veronika was accused of “extremism” by “performing actions to attract users to social networks Facebook and Instagram”.
She said: “I am going to get to the bottom of it and to cover it here. Thankfully, I have the support from people who understand that this is not normal.
“This is totally f****d up, and I want as many people as possible to know about this story. And while we don’t speak about such things, I will still speak.”
A Moscow court banned Instagram and Facebook in March during a crackdown on western social media giants.
Meta, the parent company which owns Facebook and Instagram, was classed as “extremist” in response to the company’s relaxing of hate-speech towards Russian soldiers.
Russia has now created its own version of the app called Rossgram, after the ban left influencers in tears.