After reviewing reports from the media and regional authorities, the outlet Verstka concluded that in 57 Russian regions, educational institutions, housing and utilities bodies, and local administrations are being instructed to switch to the Max messenger.
This includes school, parent, student and apartment-building chats, as well as communications used by regional governments and even airports. In at least every fourth region, representatives of local authorities, including staff of administrations, ministries and governments, are being moved to Max.
In the Pskov region and Chuvashia, working groups have reportedly been set up to promote the “implementation, use and popularization” of the state messenger. At the same time, such directives are not always carried out in practice.
Max was developed by VK. Earlier, the company had already introduced Sferum, an education platform with a built-in messenger. The state had required that all chats related to the educational process be hosted there.
“For three years, at the kindergarten my son attends, I’ve been hearing that we’re supposed to move the kindergarten chats to Sferum. For all three years, the teachers have successfully ignored it, and the principal has turned a blind eye,” a source from St. Petersburg told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
Despite the size of those agencies, employees of the Interior Ministry and other security bodies have not yet been required to use Max. Two sources told Novaya Gazeta Europe this: a person close to the Interior Ministry and the administrator of the Telegram channel Operative Review.
Max is expected to be officially presented in early autumn; for now, the service remains in beta testing. Another source cited by the newspaper, who runs several Russian opposition Telegram channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, asked to remain anonymous.