Russian Influencers Survived Censorship by Moving to Telegram

Karina Kasparyants began her career as an influencer in her teens, making YouTube videos of beauty tips, shopping hauls and glimpses into her everyday life as a student in Moscow in the mid-2010s. Soon, she started to post on Instagram too, gradually building up a following of more than 2 million people.

At the time, major foreign brands were spending heavily in the Russian market, and Kasparyants was able to build lucrative relationships with companies, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Hennes & Mauritz AB. “Back then, I wanted to pour all of my energy into Instagram because that’s where the ...