Russia Orders State-Backed WhatsApp Rival Pre-Installed On Phones and Tablets

Starting September 1st, Russia will require all smartphones and tablets sold in the country to come with MAX, a state-backed messaging app seen as a rival to WhatsApp and Telegram. Critics say the app could be used to track users. Reuters reports: The Russian government 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 September 1. State media says accusations from Kremlin critics that MAX is a spying app are false and that it has fewer permissions to access user data than rivals WhatsApp and Telegram. It will also be mandatory that from September 1, Russia's domestic app store, RuStore, which is pre-installed on all Android devices, will be pre-installed on Apple devices.

A Russian-language TV app called LIME HD TV, which allows people to watch state TV channels for free, will be pre-installed on all smart TVs sold in Russia from January 1, the government added. [...] MAX said this week that 18 million users had downloaded its app, parts of which are still in a testing phase. Russia's interior ministry said on Wednesday that MAX was safer than foreign rivals, but that it had arrested a suspect in the first fraud case using the new messenger.

Re:

[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

And what's his opinion on the behavior of his adopted country vis-a-vis their aggression toward Ukraine?

I don't recall ever hearing a peep from him about this either.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, let's see. Let's piss off the rooskies so they hand 'em over to the USA or some other country where the CIA gets better access to knock him.

So maybe he doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds, you fucking dumbass.

Re:

[gtall]

Nonsense, if la Presidenta can spring a convicted sex trafficker like Ghislaine Maxwell from prison and the Jan. 6 putsch rioters, someone like Snowden is a piece of cake.....probably give him a place in his alleged administration, say, head of the CIA. He holds the same views as la Presidenta.

Re:

[Uldis Segliņš]

What do you think would happen with him after sucha stunt? If people get arrested there for being out in the street with an empty paper sheet, or sent to Gulag, kids taken for wrong kindergarden drawing, what would happen to him for openly criticizing the regime?

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

Especially since, IIRC, he was able to pull most of those files from improperly-secured US government Sharepoint servers.

So, he's near Windows a fair bit... and in Russia that sort of proximity can be very dangerous.

Re:

[ArmoredDragon]

Especially since, IIRC, he was able to pull most of those files from improperly-secured US government Sharepoint servers.

Not improperly secured. He was a system admin put in a position of trust because he worked for a government contractor, and then he abused that trust. If anything was improper, it was their security policies at the time. But hindsight is always 20/20, such as how airport ground crew policies changed after the Richard Russell incident.

Re:Why doesn't Edward Snowden

[test321]

Why doesn't Edward Snowden who is now in Russia ever speak out about this?

1. He only did that in the US because he worked for secret services and had access to privileged information, which presumably isn't his current situation in Russia.
2. In the US he was able to safely flee to Russia where he could lead a normal life and be safe, for the reasons of a) being of high value for the Russian government and b) being married to a local. What would be a safe place for him if he had to flee again? He needs protection from extradition to the US and assassination from Russia. It isn't obvious.
3. He is not suicidal as far as we know.

Re:

[Samantha Wright]

"Hello, Ecuadorian embassy? Yes, I heard about the weird shit with the cat, but listen..."

Re:

[ArchieBunker]

He didn't intend to flee to Russia. He was trapped there on his way to Ecuador. His position is precarious to say the least.

How will HBO max react

[ozduo]

That's the question â"

Standard solution

[registrations_suck]

The standard solution to the problem of people not being interested in what you're peddling is to require them to have it.

Works for apps, "safety" features, labor unions, welfare schemes, healthcare, education, etc. the sky is the limit!

Fake outage

[djp2204]

WhatsApp and telegram track their users too, as do snap, insta, facebook, google, apple, Samsung, Microsoft, YouTube, bing, yahoo, your phone carrier, your ISP, your car, Sony, Nintendo, the list goes on. You are the product, the thing you use is a vehicle to track you. Believing otherwise is naive.

Re:

[sg_oneill]

I'd rather be the product than the subject of a hyper authoritarian government

But oh man is that a low bar...

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

Nowhere near to the same extent.

Russia gets a 3rd party app store for iPhone?

[GrahamJ]

I thought it was just the EU. Why can't I get one here?

Re:

[allo]

Less strict consumer protection laws.

Targeting Data

[bill_mcgonigle]

There's some evidence that Meta provided Israel with targeting data from WhatsApp used to flatten civilian apartment buildings in Tehran.

The IRGC put out an urgent plea to its citizens to uninstall WhatsApp within a day or two.

But people will say, "yeah, but there's no good alternative," so actually providing one is smart military strategy, if they've actually built a viable competitor.

If Americans think In-Q-Tel funded Facebook but don't have access to its data ... yeah, well they slept through the Snowden

How will they install it on iPhones?

[viperidaenz]

That would require side-loading, since Apple don't sell to Russian market, and all their iPhones are parallel imported from other countries

Re:

[allo]

How would an iPhone qualify as "smartphones and tablets sold in the country" if Apple doesn't sell to Russia?

Which app?

[snapsnap]

This really seems like fake news because they never say.