TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Russian super app and messaging platform MAX, along with several apps developed by its developer, VKontakte (VK), have been removed from the Google Play Store.
In an official statement on Thursday, July 16, the social media company VK urged its users to switch to a new domain ending in ".ru."
"All features, apps and the design of VKontakte on vk.ru remain the same. However, due to technical reasons, vk.ru is always accessible and also loads and works faster than vk.com," the company said, as quoted from Antara, citing Xinhua.
In June, several VK apps, including MAX, were also removed from Apple's App Store, drawing strong criticism from the company and Russian authorities.
Google Play has also removed several Russian-owned apps, including the Kaspersky antivirus app and the official apps of several Russian banks.
The move came against the backdrop of sanctions on the Russian media giant and its daughter company, Communication Platform, by the European Union.
"The app comes pre-installed on all mobile devices sold in Russia and includes extensive surveillance features," the EU said, as quoted from france24.
It added that those capabilities had "been used for repressive actions against users criticizing Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine or posting other content banned by authorities."
Earlier, Russia had throttled WhatsApp and Telegram, the country's two largest messaging apps, and forced civil servants, state companies, schools and government agencies to move their communications onto MAX.
MAX is often compared to China's WeChat, which combines social media and messaging functions with access to government services, a digital ID card system, banking and payments.
Read: Russia Threatens Full Ban on WhatsApp, Promotes State-Backed MAX
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