An example to the UAE citizens that their government will protect them. Sense of citizenship is worth $20B. Plus, it's not that UAE actually lost this money. Neither did France. They may lose/delay $20B in revenue.
UAE is full of very wealthy expat Russians who have UAE citizenship. If UAE does not protect them, they might go elsewhere and take their money (which probably is at least $300B) with them.
UAE would not protect an ordinary citizen like this.
could this not be an "oh no! anyway" type thing? of course it probably stings and wounds their pride but they can't run their justice system on the whims of foreign governments wishes about a foreign app?
it's also weird that uae, russia and others rely so much on this tech, esp given that it's probably compromised (both at central level and in individual conversations and groups level) (and private key encryption is moot in the latter case) and how easy it would be to develop a homegrown secure alternative
> it's also weird that uae, russia and others rely so much on this tech
Because they're not gonna use american alternatives and Russia is playing politics while UAE provided refuge to Pavel Durov when he fled from Russia.
In fact, Russia has tried to ban Telegram in the past but accidentally ended up nuking the country's internet instead. Since then, they've lifted the ban since most people in Russia and neighbouring countries use this app.
It's also used widely in Iran and countries where there's government oppression.
It's not like it was handed a check that has been voided, and France's GDP is $3 trillion, and we're talking Saudi Arabia. I doubt major Western trading partners will defect.