Seems legit
post
UK taking notes, this will make phones safer for children right?
russians are good at tech/hacking im sure the layperson can find away to disable it.
My friend over there says they will somehow force its installation even on iPhones.
The app is definitely fully encrypted and not reading your messages!
is no better than the news about Chat Control
I wonder how bad it is compared to whatsapp.
Depends on how you rate Putin reading your messages against Zuckerberg reading your messages.
In one case, your data gets sold, but in the other you get thrown out a window.
Oh, no, Russian government ends up leaking each and every piece of information it has for 50 rubles per person through sheer incompetence. So, you are both flying out the window and getting your data sold.
WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption, so Meta only collects the metadata. Still enough to convict, but better than anything from Putin.
Not when Meta works with NSO group to backdoor the app. Then they can read all your messages.
Has there been any evidence of that? Intercepting the traffic or disassembling the app would show some signs if true.
Yeah dude, tons. Look at Citizen Lab's work. They did an very detailed exposé with Amnesty International too
A vulnerability allowing to exploit an app is not the same thing as a backdoor. Moreover, being able to gain full access to someone's device does not prove that an app's end-to-end encryption is faulty. The same kind of exploit most likely could be used to read messages from Signal and definitely other apps.
That's my point. The e2ee is worthless marketing because they work with cybermercinary groups to ensure they have exploits to gain access to the device.
NSLs require backdoors. Meta is a US corporation. But, sure, you can pretend that these exploits aren't intentional. That's their plausible deniability.
Likewise, you can pretend to be sure it's a backdoor without any proof and then also believe there's more that's not been exposed. Signal is also US-based, by the way. What software do you trust not to have vulnerabilities that could be abused by the likes of NSO Group and why?
SimpleX is probably best. Wire is much more practical for day to day, but the metadata in Wire might literally get you killed.
Gonna have to explain that last part there chief. What's wire?
Going by your logic though, what would stop a Five Eyes country like the UK from pressuring the developer of SimpleX into creating a backdoor? Besides, as discussed, even if it were bulletproof, it's improbable that the victim would have no other apps on their device, one of which could be exploited by the likes of NSO Group. The creators of Android and iOS are also obviously US-based, so your point would have to apply to them as well. From there, if someone remotely gains full access to the device, it won't matter if you use Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, SimpleX, or that new Russian thing. However, having e2ee is still better than nothing in that it protects from other attack vectors, like the ISP analyzing the traffic and reporting to the government.
Not sure why this got downvoted. Was there any real proofs that WhatsApp msgs can get decrypted and read by the central server?
Besides the AI shit that is optional. Not advocating for WhatsApp but we need to keep the conspiracy theory out of the equation.
The amount of steganographic cat memes is growing rapidly on the web.
In Russia app installs you.
WhatsApp with extra steps
with extra spyware
Apparently you don't know about Meta?
Oh no! 😟 Why do they not just use state trojans and other hidden government spyware like the west? 🤔
Because they aren't smart enough to
No word about it not be allowed to be frozen. You can freeze apps; still there but can't run. Don't even need root for that.
rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users
What other reason could they possibly have for requiring this?
Lmao joining north korea in having an "encrypted" messenger pre-installed I see.
I didn't read anything beyond post title but this reminds me of how hard WhatsApp was getting ad-time on everything because more than likely the US gov could use it to spy on people even though they've been caught using actual privacy app, Signal.
If we can all understand that, say, criticizing the policies of the state of Israel is not automatically anti-semitism, and indeed that that is often a bad-faith dismissal of legitimate criticism, we can make the same distinction here.
There's no russophobia when that country would want you killed for opposing authoritarianism. Or when that country routinely invades Europe. Or when it shoots down a plane and doesn't apologise nor extradite the criminals who did it (Girkin and Putler).
Or when it opposes your very existence as a person. Or when it infects your people with the disease of far-right hatred. And I could go on. Fuck Putler's Russia.
...though state media says it is not a spying app
So it's a spying app, then.
is it still spying if everyone knows theyre doing it?
I think so. There's lots of spying going on throughout the world and I believe (but could be wrong) that this is common knowledge. With that assumption in mind, I'd still say that those programs (in the sense of "a plan or system under which action may be taken toward a goal" rather than any specific application) qualify as spying so the app from the article would too.
Russia is so late to this game, China didn't even need to force their app (WeChat) on everyone, people just download it themselves out of their own free will (well its mostly social peer pressure, but like its not illegal to refuse installing it), even the Chinese Diaspora overseas are using it.
The CCP literally has control of a microphone inside my house (family members using it), and they willingly installed it on their western phones, like its literally the main reason why they have a smartphone.
And funny enough, my brother said something bad about CCP in the living room (he's the anti-CCP one in my family) while parents are on their phones with Wechat on it. And also they said they (either my mother or father) were planning on visit mainland China like soon with my older brother for some personal matters, and um... yea best of luck lol, hope they don't mind his position of Taiwan.
Also the return trip is gonna be even more crazy. Because that's the US Customs and um.. if y'all have been watching US News... 👀 (And my father is not a US Citizen 👀). But nobody IRL is worried and its just bussiness as usual, they're acting like this is trump v1.0, "not a big dead"... yea... good luck, don't blame me for warning y'all.
Interesting way to try and get some accidental installs outside of their target audience.
It's now HBO Max Messenger+.
if the usa trotted down this path, their app would pay homage to the tansprayed president and be called MaxDonald. there would be an oversized version dubbed the Big Max. they would even target e-readers with the MaxBook Pro.
Folks, we have the most INCREDIBLE announcement today. Maybe the best in the history of announcements, many people are saying it. We’re launching the beautiful Maxest app — and by the way, it was my idea, nobody else could have thought of this. It will come pre-installed on every phone. The fake news media will try to tell you it’s some kind of “spy app” - WRONG! Totally wrong!
The Democrats don’t want you to have this amazing technology. They want you to stay uninformed! But we’re giving you the most beautiful, most secure app ever created. Our cyber experts — the best in the world, probably the best who have ever lived — they built walls around this app.
Other countries will be so jealous of our app, they’ll probably try to steal it. But they can’t, because it’s AMERICAN MADE!
Yeah - you know why? Because it's been confirmed that messengers like whatsapp, meta are sending data to foreign spying agencies. Cooperating with them.
You know what else? Ukraine already mandates dia app for same shit.
and when telegram founder could be held hostage in France for months - it's hard to trust that platform is it?
State media says accusations from Kremlin critics that Max is a spying app are false and that it has fewer permissions to access user data than rivals WhatsApp and Telegram.
Lol. So what? The messages are going to be intercepted and fully accessible by the Kremlin. That's the whole point of this exercise.
I don't think you can call it an interception, as it's using their servers so there's no need for interception, you directly send them the messages.
Maybe their answer would work on people with 0 tech knowledge. It's safe! And they won't even stop you in the street to read your messages, so it's even convenient!
Also the US, China and probably Israel just because they can. Central hackable database of all the texts and calls
I wonder which one of our wonderful democratic leader will propose a similar idea making it mandatory to install the app and to allow it to scan absolutely everything that's on our phone, because, you know, 'think about the children' and they need make sure they are able to capture the armies of perverts roaming our streets.

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