The Russian president Vladimir Putin He today signed a law that allows the development of a state -of -state messaging application (messenger) that will be integrated into government services.
Vladimir Putin’s goal is to reduce Russia’s dependence on messenger platforms such as Whatsapp and Telegram.
Russia has long been seeking to consolidate what it calls digital domination by promoting domestic services. Its attempt to replace foreign technological platforms has become more urgent as some Western companies retired from the Russian market after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian legislators say the state application will have functions that do not have Meta Platforms Telegram and WhatsApp.
However, many are suspicious of this fact as they fear that Russia will exercise state control and there will be risks to privacy and personal freedoms.
Michael Climarov, director of the Internet Protection Society, a Russian digital rights group, said earlier this month that he expects Russia to slow down WhatsApp and Telegram to encourage people to go to the new application.