Vladimir Putin is building a super-app.
In June Putin signed a decree ordering the creation of a state-endorsed app that would combine messaging with e-government services. The Kremlin assigned the project to VK, a state-linked social-media group.
Russians will not like it, but will have it on their phones anyway.
#Russia now forcing a state-run app (Max) onto every phone.
Just a cute little combo of #surveillance, #censorship, and “digital sovereignty” 
It’s WeChat, but make it Putin.
Shanghai, China, offers a unique view of digital authoritarianism, popular resistance, and state capacity in the wake of the 2022 COVID-19 lockdown. Read our new report from Jinpu Wang and Yu Xiang.
#Covid #China #ChinaGovernment #resistance #community #authoritarianTech #WeChat
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00380237.2025.2533824
Putin Widens Effort to Control Russia’s Internet - The introduction of a state-approved messaging app has raised fears that Russia could be ... - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/world/europe/russia-putin-internet.html #freedomofspeechandexpression #computersandtheinternet #mobileapplications #wechat(mobileapp) #instantmessaging #metaplatformsinc #putinvladimirv #instagraminc #socialmedia #facebookinc #telegramllc #whatsappinc #censorship #russia
For those who don't know the size of the problem:
In 2006 I bought a new [entry level] Computer with 256 MB of RAM and a single-core P4 Celeron with 2,8 GHz.
This thing ran #WindowsXP and #NeedForSpeedMostWanted just fine.
Nowadays it would crash trying to open #Slack even on a minimalist #Linux distro like @bunsenlabs in @dillo, a lightweight browser ...
And now imagine that some folks have to use #Slack, #MicrosoftTeams, #Telegram, #Signal, #WhatApp, #WeChat, #QQ and #LineMessenger at the same time on their machine, and you can imagine that this will make entry-level desktops already scream harder than if someone were to loop the Lost Coast benchmark on them...
Everywhere else we'd not accept such a #bloatware IRL.
"Today, noyb has filed GDPR complaints against AliExpress, TikTok and WeChat. All three tech companies have failed to comply with access requests under Article 15 GDPR. This makes it impossible for European users to exercise their fundamental right to privacy, to find out how their personal data is being processed – and if the companies actually comply with other GDPR provisions, for example regarding data transfers. EU law usually allows users to get a full copy of their data."
https://noyb.eu/en/how-tiktok-aliexpress-wechat-ignore-your-gdpr-rights
#noyb has filed #GDPR complaints against #AliExpress, #TikTok and #WeChat. All three tech companies have failed to comply with access requests under Article 15 GDPR. - https://noyb.eu/en/how-tiktok-aliexpress-wechat-ignore-your-gdpr-rights #china
#Taïwan publie une alerte majeure : plusieurs #Applications chinoises siphonnent massivement vos #DonnéesPersonnelles et les transfèrent vers la #Chine. Aucune n’est conforme aux exigences minimales de #Sécurité!
#Confidentialité #ViePrivée #Surveillance #Espionnage ##REDnote #Weibo #TikTok #WeChat #BaiduCloud
https://thehackernews.com/2025/07/taiwan-nsb-alerts-public-on-data-risks.html
微信的AI，至於這麼敏感嗎？
就因爲有「追求民主，反對獨裁」和「和平請願」，連馬敘倫的信息都要屏蔽？
太可笑了！你在怕什麼？
WeChat's AI, does it really need to be this sensitive?
Just because of phrases like “pursuing democracy and opposing dictatorship” and “peaceful petition”, even information about Ma Xu-lun is being blocked?
So ridiculous! What are you afraid of?
#china #wechat #ai #artificialintelligence #chinese #censorship #censor #blocked #democracy #dictatorship #petition #中國 #人工智能 #人工智慧 #中国 #中国式叙事 #微信 #審查 #屏蔽词 #审查 #中國特色 #中国特色 #民进 #民進 #民主 #獨裁 #独裁 #請願 #请愿
@ejim @ulrichkelber das macht zentralisierte Lösungen egal ob @signalapp / #Signal, #WhatsApp, #Telegram, #WeChat, #QQ, #Line, etc. nicht weniger falsch!
Let it go, already. No one uses MobileCoin. You can’t even find an exchange to buy it.
Then why does @signalapp still have that shit in it? @Mer__edith could've pulled that #Shitcoin yet refuses to do do!
The Cloud Act is a non-issue. Signal doesn’t have data on users, so they can’t be forced to disclose it.
That's literally wrong!
It’s been 30 years, and no one uses xmpp. Let it go.
Wrong again. Otherwise there wouldn't be thriving ecosystems and Apps to this day. It's just that corporate shills refuse to acknowledge that Signal - like all centralized, proprietary, #SingleVendor and/or #SingleProvider kessengers before and after - will inevitably die as their business model is not sustainable. Sake with #ICQ really. The only exceptions are those that abolish #privacy for #profit, integrate actually working payments or sellout to a #cyberfacist #government (all those apply to #WeChat!)
It’s shocking that people who claim to care about security and privacy push niche apps with terrible UX and no PFS like Delta or XMPP instead of the only private messenger with any real market share, Signal.
You know what's shocking to me: People who are unable or rather unwilling.to acknowledge that Signal is garbage and it's requirement for a #PhoneNumber kills any #privacy benefits it may have on paper by virtue of being at best pseudonymous (assuming the userd don't live in a juristiction that demands "#KYC" for even prepaid #SIM cards (ime. #Germany) or god forbid even #IMEI|s (i.e. #Turkey has a literal allowlist that'll kick any device off it's MNOs after 90 days within 365 days.
I'd rather help people onboard #XMPP+#OMEMO like @monocles and/or @gajim or #PGP/MIME like @delta & @thunderbird (incl. setting them up with #Orbot / #TorBrowserBundle / @tails_live so their traffic gets through @torproject and doesn't provide any useable IP addresses.
As for #Sustainability, providers like https://monocles.eu finance themselves by subscriptions (starting at €2 p.m.) which people can pay fully anonymous using #CashByMail and #Monero on top of common payment methods (i.e. SEPA wire transfer)...
Russian counterintelligence agents are analyzing data from the popular Chinese messaging and social media app WeChat to monitor people who might be in contact with Chinese spies. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/06/09/world/politics/russian-intelligence-wechat-data/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #politics #wechat #china #russia #socialmedia
Russian counterintelligence agents are analyzing data from the popular Chinese messaging and social media app #WeChat to monitor people who might be in contact with Chinese spies, according to a Russian intelligence document obtained by The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/world/europe/russia-china-wechat-spying.html
Route Fifty: AGs in both Carolinas target Chinese app linked to international fentanyl trade. “Attorneys general from six states, including both Carolinas, say they’re demanding accountability from WeChat, a Chinese messaging and payment platform being used by fentanyl traffickers. The bipartisan group is giving WeChat, what’s become known as a super app, a month to detail what steps […]
家人同事還離不開 LINE，有些朋友只能靠 IG 私訊才能聯絡，甚至還有人在台灣彼此用 WeChat 聊天？把這篇快速懶人包傳給他們，說明為何 開源通訊 App 才是真正長久安心的選擇。
https://www.tomfichtner.com/article/zh/liu-ge-lianluo-fangshi-ba/
The #Signal Clone the #Trump Admin Uses Was #Hacked
A #hacker has #breached and stolen customer data from #TeleMessage , an obscure #Israeli company that sells modified versions of Signal and other messaging apps to the U.S. government to archive messages …The data stolen by the #hacker contains the contents of some direct messages and group #chats sent using its Signal clone, as well as modified versions of #WhatsApp , #Telegram , and #WeChat.
#privacy #security
https://www.404media.co/the-signal-clone-the-trump-admin-uses-was-hacked/
@fuchsiii @puppygirlhornypost2 @kopper granted, #TechIlliterates & #Consoomers are just a bad standard to begin with and aligning with the bottom barrel is always gonna lower one's standard.
People need to realize there's not one perfect app.
The former are #IRC, #XMPP+#OMEMO, #WebCall, #OnionShare, #Linphone, #Mumble, …
The latter one are #MicrosoftTeams, #Discord, #QQ, #WeChat, #iMessage, #Signal, #Matrix, …
Day 20 cont 
️
“A video shared thousands of times on a Chinese (#CCP) #SocialMedia platform claiming a re-elected #Albanese government would adopt “the far-left agenda” of the #Greens and potentially seize vacant homes was created by a member of a #WeChat group campaigning for the Liberal party in a marginal Melbourne seat.
The six-minute video, narrated by a woman who refers to herself as #AuntieGuoer, also claims any minority Albanese government that might rely on the Greens would “crackdown on the #MiddleClass” and lead to the #decline of “traditional #SocialStructures”.”
I see this is happening in the seat of #Aston and past Liberal seat of a political favourite of mine, #TudgyFudge 
Given the subject matter I’d lay a bet this is the work of ex AFP Officer, #SandraBourke and #MatthewSheahan who now has removed all biographic links. Why?
#AusPol / #Advance / #propaganda / #extremism / #ForeignInterference / #CounterDemocratic / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/18/mandarin-wechat-video-labor-greens-election-claims-made-by-member-of-aston-liberal-party-campaign-group-melbourne-ntwnfb> / <https://www.advanceaustralia.org.au/time-to-put-the-greens-last>
@beandev @thomasralfkoeb @Andreas__Nagel #MainstreamMedien versagen halt komplett.
♬ 