Google Play Removed "VKontakte" and Max Messenger
On July 16, the social network "VKontakte" and the Russian messenger Max, both owned by the VK holding company, disappeared from the Google Play mobile app store. When attempting to find them in the catalog, the service reports that these applications are unavailable.
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Simultaneously, "VKontakte" users began receiving messages about the social network transitioning to the vk.ru domain. The company explained this by technical peculiarities, noting that the .ru domain, according to them, is always available and works faster.
A similar situation affected other VK holding services, including the social network "Odnoklassniki."
The VK press service stated that their applications can still be installed through other Android app stores, including RuStore, Huawei AppGallery, Samsung Galaxy Store, and Xiaomi GetApps. The company also reported that Android users continue to receive notifications, and app updates are working normally.
Earlier this week, the European Union imposed sanctions against the VK holding. The justification for the decision noted that VK is the parent company of "Kommunikatsionnaya Platforma" (Communication Platform), which developed the Russian national messenger MAX.
As early as the end of June, VK holding applications became unavailable for download in the App Store for iPhone users. The MAX messenger was removed even earlier – at the beginning of summer.
In April, VK reported that Belarus ranked third in terms of the number of MAX users after Russia and Uzbekistan. At that time, more than 1.3 million users from Belarus were registered in the messenger.
Following the news of the applications' removal from Google Play, VK's shares fell by more than 7 percent on July 16 compared to the closing of the previous trading day.