WhatsApp and Telegram are very different, but between them dominate the secure messaging app landscape. This is ironic, because Telegram isn’t especially secure and because WhatsApp is owned by Meta, which now faces yet another tracking backlash.
These billion-plus-user mega-platforms will have an eye on Elon Musk’s X-Chat, which — just like Telegram — has questionable security credentials. But there’s now another new kid on the block. You probably won’t ever use it — depending on where you live. And you almost certainly won’t want to. Say hello to VladsApp (so to speak).
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s MP’s have approved a state-controlled messaging app, the country’s answer to those other platforms. The first reports MPs had approved this appeared in Turkish media last month, but this is now confirmed by Reuters.
Last month, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported that Sergei Boyarsky, who leads the Duma’s Committee on Information Policy, lauded this “as a secure, multifunctional alternative to services like WhatsApp and Telegram.” Boyarsky suggested this would “close the last gap in our digital security,” replacing “unsafe foreign messengers.”
The as-yet unnamed messenger will run on state-controlled infrastructure and will likely see the state slow down or otherwise hamper other messengers to push users to its own alternative. Ironically, this comes just as Telegram faces (denied) claims its own ecosystem has been compromised by Russia’s FSB.
According to Reuters, Boyarsky‘s deputy, Anton Gorelkin, posted on Telegram “the main competitive advantage of the platform will be the deep integration with government services.” There’s not much to add to that.
“The draft legislation must still pass through the upper house of parliament and be signed by President Vladimir Putin to become law,” Reuters says. “Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev last week proposed integrating government services with a national messaging app at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, highlighting Russia’s shortcomings compared to other countries in this area.”
According to the Kyiv Independent, “the new application will be integrated into Russian state and municipal databases, and private information can be transferred with the user’s consent, particularly for identification, signing contracts, paying for services or goods.” It can also be used for signing contracts and “educational services.”
The good news for WhatsApp and Telegram users outside Russia is that you won’t be able to use this new state-controlled Russian app, even if you want to. The bad news for WhatsApp and Telegram users inside Russia is that reports suggest the state might eventually block foreign platforms in favor of its own.
