Total number of active social media users in Russia 2015-2023

The total number of active social media users has noticeably increased in Russia, except for 2017, when the audience dropped in volume across the country. By January 2023, there were 106 million active users of social media platforms in Russia.  

Popular social media platforms in Russia

VK (Vkontakte) was the leading social media platform in the country with a penetration rate of over 75 percent as of the third quarter of 2022. The platform in question gained momentum after Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram were banned in Russia on the grounds of extremism in March 2022. By November 2022, VK counted nearly 85 monthly users.

Social media usage in Russia

The increasingly interconnected world means that more and more Russians use social media these days. In August 2021, the most frequently employed devices for connecting to social networks were mobile appliances. This was particularly the case of Instagram and Telegram, where 93 percent and 99 percent used only mobile phones to access the social networks in question, respectively. Among the most frequent activities on social media were sending private messages, with every six in 10 Russians reporting doing it in 2022.