Russia Releases List Of Local Apps That Stay Functioning During Internet Blackouts

Illustration of the MAX application from Russia (photo: x @ChrisO_wiki)

JAKARTA Russia has released a list of social media applications, online transportation services, and other locally developed applications that will continue to function during mobile internet blackouts. This outage is often enforced to disrupt Ukrainian drone attacks.

The list issued on Friday 5 September includes online government services, marketplaces, Mir's electronic payment system, and state-owned messaging app MAX. However, the list does not include foreign services such as Meta Platforms' WhatsApp.

The Ministry of Digital Development said it has a special technical solution to allow local applications to continue. This step will reduce the inconvenience experienced by residents due to the blackout of the mobile internet needed to maintain security," the ministry said.

The ministry does not mention Ukraine or drones. Governors in Russia's border areas routinely state that outages are needed to disrupt attacks that use the internet as navigation towards targets.

Russia is also increasingly promoting domestically made internet services and increasing control over local online spaces. The government restricts foreign applications, as part of a broader conflict between Moscow and increasingly heating up foreign technology platforms since Ukraine's war began in 2022.

Online monitoring services report an increase in complaints from Russian internet users regarding WhatsApp's poor connectivity as well as periodic mobile outages during this summer.

The ministry said the list was compiled by identifying the most popular Russian services and websites and had social significance.

The focus on this local app excludes Alphabet's YouTube and also WhatsApp, which was used by 97.6 million people in Russia last July, according to Mediascope data.

In second place is Telegram, Dubai-based app founded by Pavel Durov, a Russian-born resident, with 90.9 million users, but also not on the government list.

Meanwhile, VK Messenger a service from state-owned technology company VK is in third place with 16.7 million users.

The MAX app, which is also developed by VK and now comes innate on all phones and tablets sold in Russia, reported having 30 million users this week.