Limited internet access©The Daily Digest

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is once again taking an authoritarian stance that directly impacts citizens. The Max messaging app is a new tool that Russia is aggressively promoting, encouraging everyone to download and use it on their mobile devices and abandon other platforms. The goal, according to CBC News, a Canadian news broadcaster, is to further control the public's internet access.

 

Max is owned by the Russian company VK and is now pre-installed on all mobile phones sold in Russia, while limiting foreign applications through strategies that slow them down or block them outright, so that citizens have no choice but to use what Putin offers them.

 

Max thus becomes Russia's rival to WhatsApp or Telegram. Putin wants his own national messaging platform that unifies all his citizens' actions and serves multiple functions. Alarm bells have also been ringing about the potential for spying on its users, as is the case with WeChat.

 

Putin takes control of the internet: A new state-run app threatens freedom in Russia

Dozens of pro-Russia and anti-EU accounts on X have been accused of misleading users after the platform rolled out a new transparency feature revealing where profiles are posting from, how they downloaded the app and when they joined. The "about this account" tab, now visible on every profile, shows a user's reported location. X warns that the feature may not be accurate, and can be affected by VPNs, travel or temporary relocations.

 

Since the update, X users have identified a cluster of Russian war bloggers whose accounts repeatedly post updates from inside Russia, yet X lists their locations as Ireland. One example is Maryana Naumova, a Russian powerlifter turned "war correspondent" with more than 14,000 followers, whose stream of content shows her interviewing Russian soldiers and civilians.

 

Her most recent posts include clips linked from Rutube, a Russian video platform, claiming to locate her in the Russian town of Gorodets. However, X's data says Naumova is not in Russia, but in Ireland. X warns that her account shows signs she could be using a VPN that might inaccurately represent her actual location.

 

'Based in Russia': What X's new location tool reveals, and what it doesn't

On 12/1/2025 at 10:50 PM, bannork said:

Dozens of pro-Russia and anti-EU accounts on X have been accused of misleading users after the platform rolled out a new transparency feature revealing where profiles are posting from, how they downloaded the app and when they joined. The "about this account" tab, now visible on every profile, shows a user's reported location. X warns that the feature may not be accurate, and can be affected by VPNs, travel or temporary relocations.

 

Since the update, X users have identified a cluster of Russian war bloggers whose accounts repeatedly post updates from inside Russia, yet X lists their locations as Ireland. One example is Maryana Naumova, a Russian powerlifter turned "war correspondent" with more than 14,000 followers, whose stream of content shows her interviewing Russian soldiers and civilians.

 

Her most recent posts include clips linked from Rutube, a Russian video platform, claiming to locate her in the Russian town of Gorodets. However, X's data says Naumova is not in Russia, but in Ireland. X warns that her account shows signs she could be using a VPN that might inaccurately represent her actual location.

 

'Based in Russia': What X's new location tool reveals, and what it doesn't

Sounds like Conspiracy Theory to me.