In a recent analysis by the independent outlet Agentstvo, it has been revealed that approximately 70 percent of the channels on Russia’s state-promoted messaging platform, Max, are registered by government agencies and public institutions. This finding underscores the extent to which the Russian authorities are leveraging Max as a communications tool, developed by the state-controlled social media entity VK.
Government Influence on Max’s Channel Landscape
Max, which recently introduced a “channels” feature allowing users to broadcast messages to large audiences, aims to compete with Telegram—a platform known for its popular channel functionality. As of February 12, Max’s press service reported that the platform boasts over 170,000 public channels, collectively attracting an impressive audience of 80.5 million followers.
Agentstvo’s investigation involved downloading data on nearly 169,000 channels from MaxStat, an analytics service associated with the app. The majority of these channels were created through Max’s “Partner Platform,” where accounts affiliated with the state or businesses are designated with the suffixes gos and biz, respectively.
The analysis indicates that government entities have established at least 118,200 channels on Max, which constitutes nearly 70 percent of the total channels in the dataset. The predominant contributors to this figure are municipal authorities and state institutions, which account for over 70,000 channels. Additionally, schools and kindergartens have set up more than 34,000 and 19,000 channels, respectively, while various administrative bodies contribute over 5,000 channels.
Business channels represent about 13 percent of the total, amounting to approximately 21,600 channels, primarily initiated by property management firms and homeowners’ associations. The remaining 29,100 channels, roughly 17 percent of the dataset, were not created through the Partner Platform and generally lack direct state affiliation.
Agentstvo’s estimates suggest that the analyzed channels possess a combined total of 88.3 million followers, reflecting total subscriptions rather than unique users. Notably, only 26.3 million of these followers, or about 30 percent, are subscribed to state-run channels, with an average of 220 followers per government channel. This indicates that the majority of Max users are gravitating towards channels that are not formally linked to the state and do not carry the official gos or biz identifiers.
Furthermore, more than half of all subscriptions on Max—49.6 million—are concentrated among just one percent of the platform’s most popular channels. Agentstvo’s findings reveal that seven of the ten most-subscribed channels are either state-affiliated or overtly propagandistic, highlighting the platform’s potential as a tool for disseminating government narratives.
As the Kremlin continues to promote Max while restricting access to competing platforms, even officials appear hesitant to fully embrace the new app, raising questions about its adoption and effectiveness in the broader communication landscape.
