A Russian state-backed messenger application called Max, a rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on all mobile phones and tablets bought in the country starting next month, the Russian government said on Thursday.
The decision to promote Max comes as Moscow, locked in a standoff with the west over Ukraine, is seeking greater control over the internet. The Kremlin said in a statement that Max, which will be integrated with government services, would be on a list of mandatory pre-installed apps on all “gadgets”, including mobile phones and tablets, sold in Russia from 1 September.
The app is definitely fully encrypted and not reading your messages!
Sadly EU goes this way too
In Russia app installs you.
It definitely won’t lead to any surprise defenestrations.
Oh no! 😟 Why do they not just use state trojans and other hidden government spyware like the west? 🤔
Because they aren’t smart enough to
They don’t need to lie about it.
WhatsApp with extra steps
Does this mean HBO needs to change their name again?
The amount of steganographic cat memes is growing rapidly on the web.
I don’t think plausible deniability will give you much sway when you’re dealing with the Russian government.
Gonna save this when i’ll need it.
I wonder how bad it is compared to whatsapp.
Depends on how you rate Putin reading your messages against Zuckerberg reading your messages.
Does anyone have a complete list? The article says there’s a package manager and video/TV streaming app and this chat app. What about money transfers and banking? Does this Max app do email?
Does it come with state mandated AI like WhatsApp?
rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users
What other reason could they possibly have for requiring this?
Both can be true at the same time. Countries want to be able to spy on their citizens, and don’t want their geopolitical rivals to be able to spy on their citizens.
I didn’t read anything beyond post title but this reminds me of how hard WhatsApp was getting ad-time on everything because more than likely the US gov could use it to spy on people even though they’ve been caught using actual privacy app, Signal.
deleted by creator
If we can all understand that, say, criticizing the policies of the state of Israel is not automatically anti-semitism, and indeed that that is often a bad-faith dismissal of legitimate criticism, we can make the same distinction here.
deleted by creator
There’s no russophobia when that country would want you killed for opposing authoritarianism. Or when that country routinely invades Europe. Or when it shoots down a plane and doesn’t apologise nor extradite the criminals who did it (Girkin and Putler).
Or when it opposes your very existence as a person. Or when it infects your people with the disease of far-right hatred. And I could go on. Fuck Putler’s Russia.
deleted by creator
