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.
Does this mean HBO needs to change their name again?
Russian companies order all new devices to be wiped and installed fresh.
spyware in
WhatsApp with extra steps
with extra spyware
Apparently you don’t know about Meta?
“Extra” spyware implies there was already spyware, so they’re still correct
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.
Does it come with state mandated AI like WhatsApp?
No word about it not be allowed to be frozen. You can freeze apps; still there but can’t run. Don’t even need root for that.
is no better than the news about Chat Control
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.
Look at this normie having a solid jk 🤡
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.
They lack the necessary faith… They rely on weak sauce westoid propaganda 🐸
Got to ensure the right guy is data mining
Lmao joining north korea in having an “encrypted” messenger pre-installed I see.
lool
I wonder how bad it is compared to whatsapp.
Depends on how you rate Putin reading your messages against Zuckerberg reading your messages.
Lol. Never heard of a National Security Letter in the US?
WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption, so Meta only collects the metadata. Still enough to convict, but better than anything from Putin.
Not when Meta works with NSO group to backdoor the app. Then they can read all your messages.
Not sure why this got downvoted. Was there any real proofs that WhatsApp msgs can get decrypted and read by the central server?
Besides the AI shit that is optional. Not advocating for WhatsApp but we need to keep the conspiracy theory out of the equation.
In one case, your data gets sold, but in the other you get thrown out a window.
Oh, no, Russian government ends up leaking each and every piece of information it has for 50 rubles per person through sheer incompetence. So, you are both flying out the window and getting your data sold.
Oh yeah, so it’s a 2-for-1 deal.
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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?
