The Kremlin is waging a new influence campaign: persuading Russians to quit Western social-media platforms.

As part of an expansive effort to control the narrative about its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin is pushing Russians to embrace homegrown alternatives instead. Russian authorities have put up firewalls around several Western social-media platforms and are threatening more. Now they have to convince Russians used to the freedoms of YouTube and Instagram that censored domestic social networks can deliver moneymaking opportunities and equally large audiences. And that they aren’t just cheap knockoffs.