Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a law authorising the development of a state-backed messaging app integrated with government services, as Moscow strives to reduce its dependence on platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram.
Russia has long sought to establish what it calls digital sovereignty by promoting home-grown services. Its push to replace foreign tech platforms became more urgent as some Western companies pulled out of the Russian market following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russian lawmakers say the state app will have functionality that the likes of Telegram and Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp do not. Critics say the fact that Russia will exercise state control over it poses risks to privacy and personal freedoms.
Mikhail Klimarev, director of the Internet Protection Society, a Russian digital rights group, said earlier this month he expected Russia to slow the speeds of WhatsApp and Telegram to encourage people to switch over to the new app.
A day ago, Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp messaging service was banned from all US House of Representatives devices, according to a memo sent to all House staff on Monday.
The notice said the “Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use.”
The memo, from the chief administrative officer, recommended using other messaging apps, including Microsoft Corp’s Teams platform, Amazon.com’s Wickr, Signal, and Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime.
Meta disagreed with the move “in the strongest possible terms,” a company spokesperson said, noting that the platform provides a higher level of security than the other approved apps.
In January, a WhatsApp official said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.
