Russia sees China's WeChat, Douyin as models for its homegrown Max messenger

By Gleb Bryanski

MOSCOW, April 8 (Reuters) - Russia sees Chinese tech giant Tencent's 0700.HK WeChat messaging app and TikTok sister app Douyin as models for developing its own struggling Max messaging app, Vladimir Kiriyenko, CEO of state-controlled internet firm VK VKCO.MM, said on Wednesday.

The Kremlin is pushing Russians to use Max instead of Telegram, currently the country's most popular messaging app, but is facing stiff resistance from users, who argue that Max lags far behind its rival in terms of functionality.

Despite periodic government attacks over the years, Telegram has grown from a messaging app into a platform that provides services for business users, monetization opportunities for content creators, and crypto transactions.

The Kremlin sees this kind of "platform economy," in which e-commerce firms and affiliated banks help businesses reach their customers through online services, as its main tool for boosting slowing economic growth.

Kiriyenko said that Max, like WeChat, would use its open platform to integrate third-party chatbots, creating new services for businesses. He added that 500,000 companies had already registered on Max.

"The Asian model, WeChat is often cited as an example, became successful thanks to its open system," Kiriyenko told a conference in Moscow, stressing that partnership is the key to success.

Tencent, for example, launched a tool called ClawBot last month to integrate WeChat with OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent that can perform tasks such as transferring files and sending emails on users' behalf.

Kiriyenko, whose father Sergei is a former prime minister and now serves as the influential first deputy head of the Kremlin administration, was appointed to VK in 2021.

He said his company was also studying Douyin's expertise in building a successful e-commerce platform based on short videos.

"As people consume content, they also follow creators who promote specific products and services in areas like beauty, health, and fashion. So now I'm working on developing it into a more collaborative format," he said.