The Russian government is promoting state-backed messenger MAX as a "national messenger", but some Russians are wary of the service and do not want to download it. MAX, which is owned by a company whose boss is the son of one of Putin's top aides, is seen as a step too far. Russian officials argue that a national messenger is needed due to intelligence services penetrating foreign messaging applications like Telegram. However, some Russian users are concerned about the lack of freedom of messaging. Opposition activists allege that Russian security services have access to data on MAX and scans it for potential threats to the state.