Asking. Perhaps it was a clever move from Google to formally satisfy government demand, without actually blocking the app for motivates users.

See my response above: timing is crucial in this instance. A clever workaround that takes more than three days to propagate is useless.

As another matter of timing, note that Apple (for which no such easy workarounds are possible) and Google did this simultaneously at about 8:00 UTC+3 today. I’ve heard speculation that they couldn’t cave in before even if they wanted because then the other wouldn’t and the bad press would hit only the one who did. Now the coordination problem is apparently solved. I’m not expecting good things.