Apple Bans Russia’s Most Popular Social Media App
Apple pulled Russia’s largest social media app — Vkontakte — from the App Store on Wednesday. The company is doing this to meet new British sanctions against Russian oligarchs, Apple said in a statement.
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Apple removes Vkontakte from App Store
What Facebook is to us, Vkontakte is to Russia. With 75 million monthly users, the platform is Russia’s largest social network. More users will not be added for the time being, because the app has been banned by Apple.
Apple has pulled all iOS apps from Russian tech company VK from the App Store, including Vkontakte, Mail.ru and VK Music. Apps already installed on Apple devices will continue to work, but will not be available to download and update from the App Store worldwide. Problems can also arise with payments and notifications.
The apps are being banned because they come from apps owned by parties sanctioned by the British government, Apple spokesman Adam Dema explained in a statement. The Verge. “In order to comply with these sanctions, Apple has terminated the developer accounts associated with these apps.”
New sanctions
The British government on Monday introduced new sanctions against directors of Gazprombank, a Russian bank with links to the UK. The sanctions were in response to the mock referendums recently organized in Ukraine’s occupied territories.
Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor demanded a statement on Wednesday. “The agency believes that such discriminatory restrictions, which affect the right of Russian internet users to freely receive and communicate information, are unacceptable,” said the regulator of the country that excels at (internet) censorship. Facebook and Instagram, among others, are banned there because they are too ‘extremist’.
Earlier, Apple stopped selling products in Russia. The iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, iPad and other products are no longer available there.
