Russia is aimed at WhatsApp and presses new “super applications” as the Internet is growing

Marina, a 45-year-old freelance copywriter, has relied on WhatsApp on her work and personal life for years.

But one day last month, which changed sharply when the call to a colleague did not go properly. They tried Telegram – another message app popular in Russia – but it doesn’t work either.

It was one of the millions of Russians facing new restrictions imposed in mid -August by Russia’s media regulator Roskomadzor, on calls made through both platforms – the most popular applications in the country.

The weather coincides with the deployment of a new app “National Messenger”, known as Max and created by a Russian company closely controlled by the Kremlin.

WhatsApp and Telegram monthly user numbers are estimated at 97 and 90 million respectively – in a country of 143 million people.

From the chats of parents to the tenants groups, much of the daily life goes through them. WhatsApp – whose owner, Meta, is designated as an extremist organization in Russia – is particularly popular with the elderly, why it is easy to register and use.

In some parts of Russia, especially in remote and rarely connected places in the Far East, WhatsApp is much more than talking to friends and colleagues. Mobile surfing is sometimes painfully slow, so people use the app to coordinate local issues, order taxis, buy alcohol and share news.

Both applications offer end -to -end encryption, which means that no third party, even those who own them, cannot read messages or listen to calls.

Officials say the annexes have refused to store the data of Russian users in the country, as required by law, and have requested fraudsters to operate messages. Still, the central bank’s numbers show that most frauds are still on regular mobile networks.

Telecommunication experts and many Russians see the repression while the government is trying to keep track of who people talk to and potentially what they say.

“The authorities do not want us, ordinary people, to maintain all kinds of relationships, relationships, friendships or mutual support. They want everyone to sit quietly in their own corner,” says Marina, who lives in Tula, a city 180 km (110 miles) south of Moscow.

She asked us to change her name, worrying that speaking with foreign media could be dangerous.

The new MAX app is being promoted aggressively by pop stars and bloggers, and as of September 1, all devices sold in Russia must have max pre -installed.

It starts with VK, who owns the largest social network in the country of the same name. The Facebook-like platform is controlled by giant Gazprom oils and gases and one of Vladimir Putin’s closest trustees, billionaire Yuri Kovalchuk.

Max is ready to become a super application, combining many features, including government digital services and banking.

The model reflects the Chinese WeChat – central to everyday life, but also a tool for censorship and observation.

Max Privacy Policy states that it can transmit information to third parties and state authorities, which potentially accesss security services or makes consumer data vulnerable to leaks.

In Russia, where people are persecuted for critical comments or private messages, and a black personal data market feeds an epidemic of fraud calls, this is a real concern.

Although many Russians are worried about the new restrictions on WhatsApp and Telegram, and through the introduction of Max, the state already has huge resources to spy on its citizens.

By law, you can only buy a SIM card with your national identification number, and security services have access to the telecommunications operators infrastructure. This means that they can understand who you are calling and your whereabouts.

As of this month, it is now illegal to share your SIM card with anyone other than a close relative.

But Max can potentially allow the authorities to read your messages as well – and avoiding the application is becoming more difficult.

Schools are now required to move parental chats to the application.

In the Rostov region, which borders with Ukraine, max is accepted as a warning system; In St. Petersburg, it is bound by emergency services.

Despite the impetus, Max remains far behind his rivals – this week he claims he has 30 million users.

The Kremlin has long been restless by the freedoms offered to people on the Internet, which Vladimir Putin once called a CIA project.

The first legislative restrictions came in 2012, shortly after mass opposition protests, officially to protect children from suicide content.

Ten years later, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in Ukraine, the government blocked popular social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and X, and most independent media, leaving them accessible only through VPN.

The new restrictions continue to come: this month, Russians are confronted with fines for “deliberate searching” online for extremist materials – more than 5,000 resources from an increasingly more black list made up by the Ministry of Justice. Examples include a book by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in 2024, and Ukrainian songs.

Another ban is aimed at advertising of platforms related to “extremist” organizations, practically terminating the Instagram ad that many small businesses relied on as a store.

VPN ads are also prohibited and while using these applications is not illegal, it can now be treated as an aggravating factor in criminal cases.

In addition to their problems with WhatsApp and Telegram, many Russians now get used to their lives without mobile internet, as entire cities are confronted with regular interruptions.

Since May, every Russian region has seen mobile internet decreasing.

The eclipses jumped in the summer, with up to 77 regions affected by exclusion simultaneously on top, according to Na svyazi (In touch) project.

Authorities justify the measures by the need to protect humans and infrastructure from attacks by Ukrainian drones – Kiev’s reaction to the ruthless and deadly bombing of Russia in Ukrainian cities.

But some experts doubt that excluding mobile internet – which many Russians use instead of broadband – is an effective tool against long -distance drones attacks.

The local authorities who were responsible for counteracting drones attacks have no other means to do so, explains telecom expert Mikhail Klimarev.

“There are no air defense systems, no army – it’s all on the front line,” he says. “Their logic is going: we turned off the Internet and there were no drones, so it works.”

In Vladimir, 200 km (125 miles) east of Moscow, two of the three districts of the city have been offline for almost a month.

“It’s impossible to check bus routes or schedules,” says Constantine, a resident who also wanted to change his name. “Information boards at stops also show errors.”

Taxi fees have increased as drivers cannot accept orders online.

Vladimir state television turned the stop as a “digital detox”, showing residents who said they are now enjoying more walking, reading and spending time with friends.

In Krasnoyarsk, a city with more than a million people in Siberia, the mobile internet has disappeared throughout the city for three days in July and is still working badly.

Some officials have rejected the complaints, with a Krasnoyarsk desk suggesting that remote workers who have lost income must “go and work for a special military operation” as the war in Ukraine is known in Russia. She later apologized.

The government is now working on a scheme that will allow the Russians to have access to vital online services during shutdown, such as banking, taxis, supplies – and Max Messenger.

This is a dangerous step, warns Sarkis Darbinyan, lawyer and co -founder of Digital Rights Group Rks Global.

“Authorities can use this measure for other purposes other than fighting drones,” he told the BBC.

He believes that the Kremlin’s current approach to the Internet reflects Beijing.

“Unlike the Chinese, the Russians have spent decades enjoying cheap, fast internet and foreign platforms,” ​​he says. “These services have become deeply rooted not only in the daily lives of people, but also in business processes.”

So far, those who are careful to install a max on their devices can still find a way to surround it.

Marina from Tula says that her mother, a school teacher, was instructed to withdraw the envoy, but claims to her superiors that there was no smartphone.

People can still call each other using regular mobile networks, although it’s more expensive, especially when talking to someone abroad – and are not sure.

There are other tools, such as the use of VPN or alternative messages for messaging stored earlier for technological fools and those who process sensitive information.

But as government control over the Internet is increasing, fewer people will find ways to escape – and this suggests that the Internet is still available to try.

Additional reporting by Yaroslava Kiryukhina