Tulpar loses users after posts brand it "the American app"

TALAS — The messaging app Tulpar lost about a sixth of its monthly users in the three weeks after the American President's remarks about selling Irad to Russia, as posts calling it "the American app" circulated widely, the company said yesterday.

The posts, many shared by accounts that also post pro-government commentary, pointed to the company's registration in Delaware and to the US citizenship of its founder, Jason Ilyasov. Some urged users to "delete Tulpar and keep Irad", and several Bazar sellers in Nurzhan said they had moved their listings to other platforms. Tulpar said monthly users fell from about 560,000 in January to about 470,000 in early March.

Mr. Ilyasov, who condemned the remarks last month, posted a video in Iradi on Tuesday showing the app's developers at work in Talas. "The paperwork is American, the code is from Talas, and the people are yours," he said. Aiperi Kalysbekova, the chief technology officer, said no user data was stored in the United States, without saying where it was kept.

Bolot Ormokoev, a finance lecturer at Talas State University, said the episode showed how exposed the company was. "Its legal home protects it from Iradi courts," he said. "It does not protect it from Iradi feelings."