Representatives of the Russian messenger platform MAX met with journalists from Uzbekistan in Moscow to discuss the service's development, audience growth, new features, anti-fraud measures, and business opportunities.
MAX CEO Farit Khusnoyarov, Product Director Evgeny Shirinkin, and Head of Trust and Security Maria Maltseva spoke about the platform's evolution, its audience in Uzbekistan, available functions, and data protection approaches. The main discussion points are presented in an interview format.
Farit Khusnoyarov noted that Uzbekistan is one of MAX's key international markets. Currently, the platform has 11.5 million users outside of Russia, and Uzbekistan ranks first among foreign countries. Over four million people in Uzbekistan use the messenger, which is roughly equivalent to the combined population of Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara.
The company observes intense interaction between Uzbekistan and Russia: approximately 12 million messages are sent and 1.3 million calls are made daily. These significant volumes are taken into account during product development.
Farit Khusnoyarov reported that Uzbek language was added to the interface in August 2026. He emphasized the importance of this step, as many families in Uzbekistan and Russia have relatives on both sides of the border, and the company aims to make communication convenient in the user's native language.
Evgeny Shirinkin stated that MAX offers a wide range of features, including voice and video calls, with a special focus on connection quality, especially for long-distance communications. The NoLACE technology is used to maintain high connection quality even with a weak internet connection.
Users in Uzbekistan have created about 150 million chats. They can send media files, voice and video messages, as well as files up to 4 GB. The Stories feature was launched in the summer, and short circular video messages are also popular; users can convert them to text if they cannot listen to the audio.
The platform also supports stickers, including animated ones. The team prepared a set of stickers featuring the MAX mascot—a bear—specifically for Uzbek users.
Evgeny Shirinkin pointed out that the three most popular categories in Uzbekistan are news, music, and video, as well as culinary content. This reflects the diversity of the audience and significant potential for content creators. The company plans to consider feedback from Uzbek users when developing channel features.
Maria Maltseva stated that security is a priority. One of the key mechanisms is trusted communication through contact addition. If a person is not in the user's contacts list, they can send an invitation link, allowing the recipient to make an informed decision about starting communication. This reduces the risk of spam and fraud.
Users can also activate 'Safe Mode' and control who can call them, who can invite them to chats, and what content they see. Family protection settings allow these parameters to be configured for children or elderly relatives.
Furthermore, warnings about suspicious links have been introduced. An automated system checks links and displays a warning upon detecting a potential threat. Two-factor authentication is available to protect accounts: users can set a password required when logging in on a new device or session.
Maria Maltseva explained that MAX has a 'Report' button and a blocking mechanism applied after reviewing a message based on numerous complaints. If a user receives an unwanted message or call, they can file a complaint. The signal goes to the Security Center, where specialists promptly check for possible fraudulent activity.
It is also clearly indicated when the caller or sender is not in the recipient's contacts, which helps users exercise greater caution.
Evgeny Shirinkin reported that there is MAX for Business, accessible via the corporate website. Companies can register an official business channel or chatbot. Registration requires having a legal entity in Russia, which must be verified through bank identification or the public services portal.
Currently, there is no verification badge for regular users or government officials, as offered by some social networks. The badge is used only for projects managed by MAX itself.
Farit Khusnoyarov announced the launch of an open-source partnership program. Legal entities, including foreign companies, can enter into an agreement with the company, obtain the application source code, modify it, and launch their own version of MAX. This opens up possibilities for local solutions.
Farit Khusnoyarov specified that MAX is integrated with Russian state services. For example, Digital ID allows users to electronically present documents and confirm their age or eligibility for benefits.
More than half a million companies and organizations are registered on our business platform. Nevertheless, communication remains the primary function of the messenger, so additional features are implemented cautiously so as not to disrupt this experience. The company is open to cooperation with other countries, but the current focus is on Russia and our key international audiences, particularly Uzbekistan.
The main priority, according to Farit Khusnoyarov, is improving communication convenience. Improvements to call quality will continue, business opportunities will be expanded through MAX for Business, and joint development of channels with authors from Uzbekistan will take place. It is also possible to establish a Russian legal entity for foreigners. Work on increasing the security and reliability of the application will certainly continue.
Background: MAX belongs to VK. According to the company, the platform has 140 million users, 90 million of whom use it daily. MAX operates in 40 countries, and Uzbekistan, with its 4 million users, is the platform's largest market outside of Russia.