Russia’s VK copies WeChat model
Russia’s state‑controlled internet group VK says it’s looking to WeChat and Douyin as models for developing its domestic Max messenger, illustrating the wider industry push to turn single apps into integrated ecosystems of messaging, media and payments. That pattern raises the bar for product coherence in any market where platforms consolidate discovery and commerce. (cyprus-mail.com)
Russia is trying to build its own version of the app that does everything. On April 8, Vladimir Kiriyenko, the chief executive of state-controlled internet group VK, said Max is being shaped using China’s WeChat and Douyin as models. (finance.yahoo.com) That is a bigger ambition than a chat app. The Kremlin is pushing Russians toward Max as an alternative to Telegram, which Reuters described this week as Russia’s most popular messaging app. (finance.yahoo.com) VK is not a small startup trying this from scratch. VK tells investors that more than 95% of the Russian internet audience already uses at least one of its services, which gives it a ready-made distribution machine for a new app. (vk.company) Kiriyenko’s pitch was not “make chat better.” He said Max will copy WeChat’s open system by plugging in third-party chatbots and business services, and he said 500,000 companies have already registered on Max. (finance.yahoo.com) WeChat is the obvious template because it stopped being “just messaging” years ago. Tencent reported 1.418 billion combined monthly active users for Weixin and WeChat at the end of 2025, which is the scale VK is looking at when it talks about one app becoming daily infrastructure. (tencent.com) Douyin is the other half of the lesson. Kiriyenko said VK is studying how Douyin turned short videos into shopping, where people watch creators in categories like beauty, health, and fashion and then buy what they promote inside the same product flow. (finance.yahoo.com) Russia has been moving toward this for more than a year. In March 2025, Meduza reported that VK planned Max with a messenger, mini-apps, a chatbot builder, a payment system, and eventually government services, which is much closer to a state-backed operating system than a simple inbox. (meduza.io) The problem is that users compare Max with the app they already have, not with a future blueprint. Reuters reported that Russians resisting the switch say Max still trails Telegram on functionality, while Telegram already offers business tools, creator monetization, and crypto-related features. (finance.yahoo.com) That is why the China comparison cuts both ways. WeChat and Douyin work because messaging, discovery, payments, merchants, and creators are stitched together tightly enough that leaving the app feels inconvenient, and Max still has to prove it can make those pieces feel like one product instead of a bundle of state priorities. (finance.yahoo.com)
