Russia wants to release its own messenger

Freedom of expression in Russia

Russia wants to release its own messenger

The authorities in Russia continue to work to decouple the Russian network from the World Wide Web. For this purpose, your own chat service should now be created – under state supervision.

The Russian Parliament, the State Duma, has adopted a law to create its own messenger in view of the continuing tensions with the West. The software “Grants the possibility of secure virtual communication between the citizens, as well as state and urban authorities”According to the explanation written by the Duma. Various government services are also to be integrated into the chat program.

“With the help of this app you can confirm your age at the cash register of the supermarket and even check into the hotel without having to show documents on paper”the head of the Committee on Information Policy in Duma, Sergej Bojarski, said. The electronic signature as well as an ID function and other state documents should be able to be built into the program. In addition, the integration of online training offers is planned.

Those who develop the software determine the government according to the law. In the media it is speculated that this state messenger is made available by the social network VK. The Russian Facebook clone, which was once created by Telegram founder Pawel Durow, is now under the control of state-related corporations.

The Russian authorities have tightened control and censorship on the Internet since the beginning of Wladimir Putin, who was ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. Western and independent providers of content were with complaints because of alleged “Defamation of the Russian armed forces” covered and blocked or how youtube slowed down. In this context, Russian officials have repeatedly expressed concerns about the use of messengers such as WhatsApp, Facebook or signal.