alt Hacker NewsCouldn't we say the exact same thing about any US service in this day and age?
Trade war with half the planet, hot war with Iran. Autocratic dictator as leader and complicit media. Well documented propaganda campaign and history of destabilising countries around the world. Known to compel tech companies to spy on foreign citizens...
Ah the ol' whataboutary argument. I'm not sure how that helps make Yandex more trust worthy but still.
The US at least has political parties that openly oppose and criticise each other. Russia does not.
I'm not an American, I don't particularly like Trump but I see him constantly depicted negatively in US based media. I never, ever see Putin depicted like that in Russian media.
The only Russian politicians and media people I've heard openly criticise Putin have been carted off to jail ...and many of them have subsequently died of "mysterious" causes such as falling out of windows, beating themselves to death in empty cells, etc.
As long the 1st Amendment can be seen to be working and there's a mainstream media that's critical of the current leadership (regardless of who it is) I'll take American based services over Russian.