(Reuters). Russian national tech companies are led by Gazprom entities or those associated with it. (MCX? ) They have been staking out the exodus and blockade of foreign firms to exploit Russia’s digital isolation.

Russia has blocked access to Twitter (NYSE) and Meta Platforms flagships Facebook and Instagram (NASDAQ:), since the deployment of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24, 2018. This is as Russia’s ongoing dispute with Big Tech becomes a struggle to regulate information flow.

VK, Russia’s largest social media company, is leading the way in the digital exodus caused by Western sanctions. The company published Thursday’s step-by-step guide to help businesses migrate from other platforms.

VKontakte, Russia’s answer Facebook for years, has been viewed as the “facebook of Russia” and has over 50 million active daily users. It also reaches more than 80% Russian online audience monthly, according to the company.

According to research by Insider Intelligence, this number dwarfs Facebook’s Russian users of 7.5 million as of 2013.

VKontakte reported that more than 580,000 new owners of businesses created communities on the platform during March. These range from salons for hair and clothes to clothing shops.

VKontakte’s user activity has broken new records, since Russia started what it called a “special operations” to demilitarize neighbor Russia. This was evident in the 11% rise in content volumes that VKontakte saw between Feb. 24, and March 24, according monitor Brand Analytics.

According to the monitor, there was a drop in Russian content on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter of 5%, 16%, and 30%, respectively.

Vkontakte made just over one fifth ($1.5 billion) of last year’s revenue from the company through ads, commission from developers and subscriptions.

VK has several other business lines, such as email provider mail.ru gaming unit MY.Games, and education technology assets.

Anton Gorelkin from Russia’s State Duma information committee, said that “the domestic market in interactive services now has the great opportunity to showcase its potential to it audience.” He spoke to Telesputnik media outlet late March. Russian users have more than one choice.

GAZPROM INFLLUENCE

Although there’s no policy to replace foreign social media platforms, the government promises income tax cuts and preferential loans for IT businesses. Employees can also get deferred military service by promising them special loan rates and preference. Political leaders are encouraging people to move to local providers.

A complex set of investments that include Gazprom as well its media unit may be an indirect way for the government to play a role in developing tech solutions for the country.

Gazprom Media acquired a substantial portion of VK’s voting right rights in December last year after a management and shareholder shakeup. This added to the media empire that is controlled by the state-owned energy company.

The company’s investment may pay off soon after it stumbles. VK shares listed on London exchanges were suspended early March as they fell to nearly zero after Western investors left Russia.

VK’s depositsary receipts were traded again in Moscow Wednesday, after more than a month-long suspension. The exchange rates jumped by 72% within a single session, surpassing record lows. This was attributed to decreased foreign competition.

Gazprom Media bought RuTube (a video hosting platform) in late 2020. It bears a strong resemblance Alphabet’s YouTube. In early March its weekly users increased 5.5x, TASS quoted the company as saying.

These numbers could rise higher because YouTube, Russia’s state communications regulator Roskomnadzor is putting pressure on it, may soon experience the same fate like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Although the sites have been restricted in Russia’s case, they can still be accessed via Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which is highly sought after. YouTube can still be accessed freely.

However, critics believe RuTube needs to be better than Google’s video service.

Gazprom Media’s Vice CEO Alexander Moiseev stated in February that RuTube saw 17.7 millions unique users monthly at the end December. Mediascope reports that this compares with YouTube’s 89.5million users in Russia in January 2022.

While RuTube’s video viewer works great, Sarkis Dabinyan from Roskomsvoboda’s legal department, said that it does not have the algorithmic recommendations that made YouTube so famous.

Darbinyan stated that “these services are not comparable to the quality and speed services, over all American services,”

VKontakte claimed that every product it makes was subject to rigorous testing before being released and has launched over 230 updates in order to make the experience better.

RuTube didn’t respond to our request for comment.

NEUER FACE

Some domestic services are also available as an alternative to foreign ones. Gazprom Media introduced Yappy in November. It is a competition to TikTok video-sharing site. TikTok recently suspended live-streaming in Russia and prohibited new uploads.

According to Sensor Tower estimates, Yappy has been installed by 3.2 million Russian users since its inception. This compares to 10 million TikTok users, which was more than 10,000,000, as per the tracker Sensor Tower.

Rossgram was supposed to launch in this week’s naming and design, however, its creators failed to publish a video prototype of the app hours after it had been scheduled for launch.

Different developers claimed that they are launching a black-and white, melancholy option to U.S.’s photo sharing site, called “Grustnogram” in English or “Sadgram”. Other developers are creating a Google Play Store alternative.

Telegram messaging app, promoted by Gorelkin along with government officials in the recent weeks, is also being promoted. This seems to have recovered from its past problems with the Russian state which failed to prevent it in 2018.

Pavel Durov, Telegram founder, was also responsible for VKontakte. He fled Russia in 2014 as allies of Moscow took over control.

Telegram estimates that it has more than 500,000,000 global users and generates over 500 billion page views per month on one-to many channels. Sponsored messages can be sent to related content on public channels. It is already hugely popular in Russia. Any outflow from WhatsApp would help to improve the platform.

According to Insider Intelligence, WhatsApp is still available and used by approximately 67 million Russians last year.

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