Russia pushing unencrypted super-app on citizensAFP, WARSAWRussia is pushing its Max messenger — a social media platform without encryption — onto its citizens with a massive promotion campaign and the simultaneous blocking of Whatsapp and Telegram, the country’s two most popular messenger apps. It is not officially mandatory, but the authorities are making it clear that life without Max would become increasingly hard. “Russia wants to restructure the Internet to better control what is published,” including “by migrating all Russians to platforms that are more state-controlled,” she added. Unlike Telegram and Whatsapp, Max does not use end-to-end encryption and its terms of use state that user data are stored exclusively on services in Russia. However, another resistant user — Natasha, 48 — shows the general feeling of resignation when it comes to the future of the app in Russia.

Source: Taipei Times March 23, 2026 17:15 UTC