Officials Allowed to Use Foreign Messengers for Personal Purposes, Ministry Clarifies

Officials will not be prohibited from using foreign messengers, but only for personal purposes, Orda.kz reports.

According to the Ministry of Digital Development, there is active discussion on the Internet that the launch of Aitu will lead to the blocking of foreign messengers.

Civil servants can continue to use popular chats for communication with family members, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances — that is, for personal purposes. 

However, for business correspondence and security guarantees, they should use Aitu.

The Aitu initiative concerns exclusively official communications in central and local government agencies, as well as in quasi-public sector organizations. It is necessary so that civil servants can safely exchange official information intended exclusively for official use,  the Ministry of Finance emphasized.

The purpose of the application is to combine official correspondence, chats, and government notifications in one space.

The advantage is that all servers are located on the territory of Kazakhstan. Aitu does not replace or 'interfere' with foreign messengers in the personal lives of citizens, but only provides a secure channel for work processes in the public sector.

President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev emphasizes in almost every address how important it is to keep up with the development of new technologies, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. He sees the country’s task in becoming a digital hub of Eurasia.

One of the steps toward implementing this idea was the national application, which should provide new guarantees of data security. This is especially important against the backdrop of the leak of personal information of Kazakhstanis in June of this year. Officials must register in the new messenger by September. 

The full transition is planned for December.

Original Author: Alexandra Mokhireva