Beauty influencer, 18, facing six years in Russian jail because she ‘stands out too much’ on Instagram

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.”

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.