this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
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Apple removed 190 apps from its Russian App Store at the request of Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor between 2022 and 2024, the companyโ€™s own annual transparency reports for those three years show.

Though the number of apps removed from the Russian App Store has risen every year, that number rose hugely in 2024, when the Russian authorities began cracking down far more aggressively on online freedoms than it previously had done.

After removing just seven apps in 2022, and 12 in 2023, Apple deleted 171 apps in 2024, meaning that Russia ranked second only to China by the number of apps removed at the request of the authorities.

In the vast majority of cases โ€” 182 out of 190 โ€” Roskomnadzor invoked the same piece of Russian legislation setting out the grounds for blocking websites in its requests to the US tech giant. These range from the dissemination of materials by โ€œundesirable organisationsโ€ to incitement to terrorism. A further seven apps were removed for breaching Russian financial laws, specifically to combat illegal securities trading, online fraudsters and the theft of personal data.

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As an addition, it is noteworthy that Apple is (in-)famous to bow to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party. For example, one report reads, Appleโ€™s censorship in China is just the tip of the iceberg after the Chinese government ordered Apple to remove several widely used messaging appsโ€”WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegramโ€”from its app store.

According to reports from 2020, Apple purges nearly 30,000 apps from Chinese App Store.

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[โ€“] rbn@sopuli.xyz 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

While I neither support Russia nor censorship in any way, I think that the local government of ANY country should have a higher say on what can be distributed and sold in a country than the internal decisions of a private company in a 3rd country.

For non-technical people the availability of an app in the official app stores limits the availability of a service. And whether or not a service is allowed, should be up to local legislature.

[โ€“] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

You're not wrong, but it's a strange thing to point out.

It's like mentioning every country has the right to pass its own laws under a Post about a country passing laws that discriminate against a minority.

Nobody is criticizing Russia for regulating the distribution of apps per se, but rather what and why they are banning/regulating them.

[โ€“] rbn@sopuli.xyz 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

My interpretation of this article is that they criticize Apple for acting according to Russian laws when operating in Russia.

I also don't like Apple, but from my perspective, they either have to stop operating in Russia completely (which I'd prefer) or 'bow to the Kremlin'. Any other option involves Apple playing Sheriff and deciding themselves what is right or wrong. And I don't think that private corporations should have that power.

[โ€“] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 1 points 8 hours ago

Ah, yeah ok, I can see how it could be interpreted that way, especially the headline.

I suppose to me it was so obvious it's up to the state to regulate companies and not the companies themselves, that pointing it out felt like endorsing the regulation itself.

But maybe that's just my European showing lol

[โ€“] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I disagree. I should be able to install any app I want on my device without anyone acting as a gatekeeper and without having to use an app store.

[โ€“] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 5 points 11 hours ago

Anyone who argues aginst this needs to look in the mirror and ask themselves what went wrong in their life

[โ€“] rbn@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

As said, I'm also not a fan of censorship, but a state by definition has the right to make its own legislation. Amazon is a US company. In the US it's fine to sell weapons to adults without any license. Still, they aren't allowed to sell weapons in Germany. Likewise Aldi can't sell beer to 16 year olds in the US just because it's legal in Germany. Because the state decides what's allowed. And in the digital age, that right also applies to digital goods and services.

[โ€“] Sepia@mander.xyz 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

If an apps poses a threat to people or something, the state should have the right to prohibit that very much as other things in the 'real' world. But Russia, China, and other autocracies ban apps to increase surveillance and foster their own dictatorial policies. China, for example, banned gay dating apps as far as I remember, along with tens of thousands other apps. Now Russia is banning Signal and other messengers. The regimes are trying to protect themselves and limit their own people's freedom.

[โ€“] JustEnoughDucks@slrpnk.net 9 points 14 hours ago

The US does the same thing too, just in the past year.

The US government banned ICE gestapo surveillance apps and apps that would bring the community together and warn of incoming kidnappings, also a video aggregation app or something for documenting ICE crimes.

[โ€“] rbn@sopuli.xyz 2 points 13 hours ago

Don't get me wrong: I don't like a government banning gay dating apps or encrypted messengers. I'm just saying that it's the right of the state to ban certain apps. From an ethical point of view there can be good or bad intentions behind such a ban. You can do so to keep the free press out or to spy on your citizens, but you can also do so to protect your citizens.

E.g. Germany didn't allow Tesla to test rollout the US version of their 'self driving' software to protect people from accidents. Likewise, that new Amazon service to bundle the live feed of all their customers' surveillance cameras which they claim is to 'find lost dogs' (it was a superbowl commercial) isn't in line with German data protection laws and therefore hopefully never allowed here.