Anastasia Andreevna Morosanova

Since February-March of 2022 some large social media and digital platforms are no longer legally available in the Russian segment of the Internet. Digital protectionism and sanctions lead to “new restrictions” in social media markets which directly and indirectly affect the production in the real sector of the economy. The purpose of this article is to analyze the current situation in social media markets from the point of view of users and market players, and to identify the med-term development trends. Based on the experience of foreign countries (Iran and China), as well as on the analysis of the existing restrictions, it was found that network effects, the necessity of using a VPN and economic incentives (the availability of a mechanism for promoting content, advertising and monetization) have a stronger impact on the blocked or restricted digital service presence than its formal blocking. For digital protectionism to lead to a long-term sustainable development there should be a framework strategy with goals incorporating the market parties’ goals. Otherwise, with exclusively an ad hoc response, the industry is not able to create globally competitive services.