Map Shows Countries Where Instagram Is Blocked [Video]

Almost 14 years after its launch in October 2010, Instagram is still dominating as a go-to platform for messaging, sharing, and watching content.

It stands third in the rankings of the most popular social media sites, behind Facebook and YouTube, as of April 2024, and the U.S. is the country with the second highest number of users at 169.7 million, after India with 362.9 million, as of January 2024. Of its users, 62.3 percent are under the age of 34.

Like its fellow Mata-owned platform Facebook, Instagram is banned in a number of countries, including Russia, North Korea, Iran, Bangladesh, China, and Turkmenistan, as illustrated in the map below.

Why is Instagram banned in some countries?

The app has been banned often during times of unrest or ahead of elections. In China, Instagram was blocked in 2014 when pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong were taking place, the Financial Times reported — a ban still in place today.

A year …