Kommersant: foreign messaging app audience in Russia grew 26%. Telegram remains among leaders despite being blocked.

Unblocked foreign messaging apps are booming in Russia. Meduza reports the combined audience for these apps grew twenty-six percent in the second quarter, with the Turkish app BiP leading the surge—its Russian user base jumped one hundred twenty percent to four point three million. South Korea's KakaoTalk came second, growing eighty percent to one point three million. The American app imo remains the largest with twelve point two million users, though growth has slowed to one percent. The real story, though: Telegram and WhatsApp, both heavily blocked, still dominate with seventy-five point seven million and sixty-three point five million users respectively. People continue to find ways around the blocks, and interest in legal alternatives has grown since call restrictions on those apps took effect last year.

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