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- Blog to help: info gypsies Mitroshina, Blinovskaya and Shabutdinov lost 2 million subscribers
Blog to help: info gypsies Mitroshina, Blinovskaya and Shabutdinov lost 2 million subscribers
The top 6 information Gypsies in Russia — Alexandra Mitroshina, Ayaz Shabutdinov, Dmitry Portnyagin, Nadine Serovsky, Inna Tliashinova and Elena Blinovskaya, who is serving her sentence in a penal colony — lost 2 million subscribers in a year, Izvestia learned. Overall, their audience decreased by 10%. Trust in the infobusiness has declined due to increased regulatory checks that have revealed cases of deception and fraud. This trend will continue — they may lose another 15% of their audience by the end of the year, experts say.
What part of the audience did the Infocygans lose
The Russian segment of Instagram (owned by Meta, a company whose activities are recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) is undergoing noticeable changes: the largest information gypsies, who previously collected millions of subscribers, are now facing a decline in their audience — it has decreased by about 10% over the year. Such data was provided to Izvestia by the Association of Bloggers and Agencies (ABA) together with the LiveDune social media management service. Experts cite a reduction in confidence in such businesses as a result of tougher regulatory checks and fraud detection as the main reason.
Blogger Alexandra Mitroshina, accused of money laundering on an especially large scale, at a meeting of the Chertanovsky court on March 10, 2025
The decline in interest in information products is also compounded by the fact that the cost of attracting new customers has increased, and Russian users have become jaded with offers, the organization noted. Over the past year, the total audience of leading bloggers in the infobusiness has decreased by 2 million people from the previous 20.7 million.
The leaders of the segment — Ayaz Shabutdinov, Dmitry Portnyagin, Alexandra Mitroshina, Nadine Serovsky, Inna Tliashinova and Elena Blinovskaya, who is serving her sentence in a penal colony — lost a significant part of their subscribers. Because of this, the entire infobusiness sector began to lose profits.
As a result, according to the study, the income of Russian influencers in 2024 decreased by about 500 million rubles. The ABA noted that market stabilization is possible only if the quality of content is improved and audience confidence is restored.
Some of the information Gypsies are serving their sentences in a penal colony or are in jail awaiting a court decision, while the rest have left the country, stopped their activities or are conducting them more covertly. For example, the profit of Alexandra Mitroshina, who was recently detained for tax evasion, decreased from 650 million in 2022 to 150 million in 2024. Yelena Blinovskaya, who was sentenced to five years in a general regime penal colony, and Valeria Chekalina (who is under house arrest) have stopped their work. However, Ayaz Shabutdinov, despite the fact that he has been held in jail since November 2023, continues to conduct his business activities — his business school continues to function, but earnings are unknown.
How will the situation develop
The outflow of subscribers from foreign social networks is not just numbers, but a symptom of deeper processes. He says that Russians' digital behavior is changing: users are becoming more cautious and increasingly choosing platforms that they trust more in terms of security, accessibility and legality, said Yulia Zagitova, founder of Breaking Trends and secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia.
— The outflow is likely to continue. Firstly, because access to a number of foreign platforms is limited. Secondly, the market began to be saturated with domestic alternatives with similar functionality, but better adaptation to Russian users. In addition, the audience has become more aware. Today, there is more demand for benefit, honesty and authenticity," she said.
According to her, people are tired of manipulation, they are ready to subscribe only to those who really share the necessary information, and not sell the air. Regaining trust is a matter of transparency and benefit. In her opinion, this is a chance for the Russian digital environment to create a more mature market where not just coverage is valued, but real value and dialogue with the audience.
The vast majority of media specialists, including bloggers, are already working on domestic platforms, said Yulia Ablets, Deputy General Director of Dialog Regions, founder of the Workshop of New Media. Foreign sites themselves are increasingly disappointing authors — because of unclear rules and unpleasant situations, many simply do not want to contact them, she added.
Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, federal coordinator of the Digital Russia party project, believes that Western social networks are still in sight, but no longer in the center. The trend of outflow will continue, and by the end of the year, information Gypsies may lose another 15% of the audience. The transition to local platforms is in full swing, and this process cannot be stopped. Even if all restrictions are lifted tomorrow, few people will run back, he noted.
— This is especially evident in the history of the infobusiness. Where dreams used to be easily sold for 99 thousand rubles, today there is distrust and skepticism. High—profile investigations, criminal cases, deceived clients - all this made people think. The belief in "success in seven steps" no longer works. To regain trust, bloggers need to stop being sellers of illusions and become those who really benefit," he said.
Russians are not just losing interest in content on foreign platforms — they are changing the rules of the game. They set the tone in their fields, with their own laws and new heroes, Anton Nemkin concluded.
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