Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, has put his finger on the sore spot: the lack of a Russian mobile operating system leaves the country tied to foreign platforms. According to him, internet restrictions have caused a brain drain that prevents creating that alternative. Without it, any national or foreign app remains exposed to US surveillance. For the average citizen, this means censorship and external control do not disappear, they just change form.
The Black Hole of Mobile Sovereignty 🕳️
Dependence on Android and iOS is not just a matter of convenience, but of security. Durov points out that without its own ecosystem, Russian user data travels through infrastructures controlled by US corporations. This allows agencies like the NSA to access communications, contacts, and metadata without too many obstacles. Even if national apps exist, they run on a foreign operating system, making them vulnerable to backdoors and forced updates. Digital independence, according to him, starts at the device's core.
The Russian Dream of a Phone That Doesn't Spy 📱
Of course, meanwhile, the geniuses who could create that homegrown operating system have gone to work at Google or Apple, probably designing exactly what Durov criticizes. It's the classic vicious circle: you put restrictions on the internet, programmers leave for abroad, and then you complain there's no one to make a sovereign OS. In the end, the Russian user is left with two options: use an iPhone that watches them or an Android that watches them more. What a patriotic dilemma.