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.
I didn’t read anything beyond post title but this reminds me of how hard WhatsApp was getting ad-time on everything because more than likely the US gov could use it to spy on people even though they’ve been caught using actual privacy app, Signal.
rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users
What other reason could they possibly have for requiring this?
Both can be true at the same time. Countries want to be able to spy on their citizens, and don’t want their geopolitical rivals to be able to spy on their citizens.
Does this mean HBO needs to change their name again?
WhatsApp with extra steps
Fuck Whatsapp. That shit should be shut down years ago. I wish everyone on any meets platform would from a mob, storm Zuck’s house, kill him and move off social spyware.
I would immediately flip the switch without warning or hesitation if I could.
with extra spyware
Apparently you don’t know about Meta?
“Extra” spyware implies there was already spyware, so they’re still correct
Just funnels the data to different people.
The app is definitely fully encrypted and not reading your messages!
Sadly EU goes this way too
is no better than the news about Chat Control
or google preinstalling their bullshit on your phone.
Russian companies order all new devices to be wiped and installed fresh.
In Russia app installs you.
It definitely won’t lead to any surprise defenestrations.
Look at this normie having a solid jk 🤡
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.
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
Does it come with state mandated AI like WhatsApp?
The Russophobia is strong in this thread.
If we can all understand that, say, criticizing the policies of the state of Israel is not automatically anti-semitism, and indeed that that is often a bad-faith dismissal of legitimate criticism, we can make the same distinction here.
One of these places is openly exterminating an entire population through weaponized famine and the wholesale destruction of all public infrastructure while simultaneously bombing 4 other countries for daring to intervene. And all of this is done on behalf of the imperial hegemon USA.
The other country is Russia which is being subjected to a broad spectrum hybrid warfare campaign which includes CIA and MI6 terrorists infiltrating every aspect of the Russian country to carry out terror attacks and assassinations.
Such comparison is silly.
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?
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.
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.
Has there been any evidence of that? Intercepting the traffic or disassembling the app would show some signs if true.
Yeah dude, tons. Look at Citizen Lab’s work. They did an very detailed exposé with Amnesty International too
A vulnerability allowing to exploit an app is not the same thing as a backdoor. Moreover, being able to gain full access to someone’s device does not prove that an app’s end-to-end encryption is faulty. The same kind of exploit most likely could be used to read messages from Signal and definitely other apps.
That’s my point. The e2ee is worthless marketing because they work with cybermercinary groups to ensure they have exploits to gain access to the device.
NSLs require backdoors. Meta is a US corporation. But, sure, you can pretend that these exploits aren’t intentional. That’s their plausible deniability.
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.
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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, if the app is not baked in the system.
Lmao joining north korea in having an “encrypted” messenger pre-installed I see.
lool
