Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has signed a new law permitting the creation of a new state-owned messaging app that will integrate with the country’s government services. The move is part of an effort to reduce its reliance on apps like WhatsApp (American-owned) and Telegram (founded by Russians but on that government’s (and others’) Naughty List™).
In Soviet Russia… oh, wait
Details of the eventual app are understandably sketchy, but it will offer similar functions to those it will compete with. It’ll also include unspecified additional functionality “that Telegram and…WhatsApp do not have.” The main drawcard would seem to be government integration, which could go either way for the country’s technology users.
Obvious and immediate criticism of the Russian messaging app was voiced. Concerns over user privacy and government control of the app have been raised, though it’s not explained how that differs from other, privately owned apps. Meta is notoriously hungry for its users’ data, and Twitter’s recent past is an excellent example of governments secretly becoming involved in citizen communication. The Russian effort could prove more overt, but that might be better (relatively speaking) than secret government surveillance.
As to how Putin’s country will drive uptake of the app (which, again, still hasn’t been developed or launched), the Internet Protection Society’s Mikhail Klimarev speculates that the country will slow the internet performance of WhatsApp, Telegram, and others to make the home-grown solution more appealing.
