Apple defends removal of censored apps from Russian App Store as means to avoid total ban

Apple has defended the reported removal of a number of independent media apps and VPN services from its Russian App Store as a means of avoiding a total block on Apple content in Russia, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Tuesday.

Apple silently removed nearly 60 VPN services from the Russian App Store between 4 July and 18 September, bringing the total number of VPN apps unavailable in the country to 98, GreatFire, an organisation which monitors online censorship, reported.

When contacted by RSF, Apple’s representative denied having proactively removed VPN apps from the App Store, but said that failure to comply with Russia’s local laws “could mean that Apple would no longer be able to operate an App Store or distribute content in the country”.

The representative added that the US government had encouraged companies to continue to make communications services available to Russians “because democratic principles are best aided through the availability of these services”.

Apple continues to prosper in Russia, despite Western sanctions, thanks to indirect imports of iPhones, sales of which constituted 12% of the Russian smartphone market this year, RSF said. Its “compliance with arbitrary orders from an authoritarian state called into question its public commitment to freedom of information”, which is set out in a declaration adopted in 2020, RSF continued.

“Apple’s submission to Russia’s censorship seriously compromises Russian citizens’ access to reliable and independent information,” RSF said, urging Apple to “show more firmness” towards Russian censors.

According to GreatFire, Apple also deleted LGBT dating apps and independent news sources The Insider, Meduza, BBC News Russian, Holod, and the Ekho Moskvy radio station from its list of podcasts.