Cambodia launches new messaging app, with endorsement from Senate President Hun Sen
The Cambodian-run messaging platform CoolApp concluded its first week on app stores with the endorsement of Senate President and former Prime Minister Hun Sen. Writing to Facebook followers on June 28, Hun Sen expressed pride in the application and called on civil servants and the armed forces to use CoolApp to ensure it is “difficult for foreigners to interfere with our information”. The Standing Committee of the Central Youth Committee of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) responded on June 6 by issuing instructions to CPP Youth to use CoolApp for distributing information and reports to the Central Youth Committee.
CoolApp markets itself as an end-to-end encrypted messaging and social media platform, built to the standards of and as an alternative to similar platforms from other countries, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or WeChat. Its CEO, Lim Cheavutha, began his career at Deum Ampil News, an outlet widely perceived to be pro-CPP, before founding his own newsroom of a similar persuasion.
Since CoolApp’s launch on June 21, it has received 200,000 downloads, according to FreshNews, the site also founded by Lim.