Clubhouse, the app with audio-only rooms - which after a period of pandemic boom has lost some of its appeal even for the competition - has launched a new function to protect accounts in difficult territories, such as Russia and Ukraine.
According to a press release on the official blog, anyone can decide to make their profile private, thus hiding public information.
The novelty is designed for people who fear for their privacy but can also be activated by others.
One way for residents of Ukraine and Russia, opposed to the ongoing war, to be able to express opinions in chat rooms without fear of being persecuted.
At the beginning of March, the "Decoding Live Russian Radio" room had begun to broadcast the unencrypted communications of the Russian military in Ukraine, thus raising the concerns of the Moscow government.
Clubhouse remains one of the few Western tech companies that hasn't restricted user services in Russia.
This allows dissidents to use the app to communicate via audio, even in private mode, i.e. without making the sessions public.
Before today's news, the information of the subscribers, including the general information entered and the audio rooms followed, were visible to all.
Once their profile is made "protected", new followers will have to ask for permission to access user information, similar to what happens with private Twitter and Instagram accounts.
As announced by the same company, hundreds of rooms have been created since the outbreak of the war to allow Ukrainians, both inside and outside the country, to tell about their experience with the Russian invasion.
One of the chats promoted by Clubhouse, called "Ukrainian House", involves an average of 10,000 users per session.
