Apple Restores Navalny App
Apple has restored an app sponsored by Alexei Navalny, a prominent leader of Russia’s political opposition, to the company’s Russian app store. Apple took down the app last September, days before Russia’s legislative elections, under pressure from the Russian government.
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The Washington Post reported that days before the election, the Russian government sent agents to the homes of top Apple and Google executives in Russia, demanding that Navalny’s app be removed from the companies’ app stores. Russian authorities claimed that Navalny’s group was an “extremist” organization. If Apple and Google failed to comply within 24 hours, the government said, their Russian executives would go to prison.
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Google restored the app days after the election, according to The Washington Post. Apple only restored the app in the past few days.
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Apple hasn’t yet responded to an email from Ars asking why it restored access to the app; the company declined to comment for The Washington Post’s story.
I’m not sure how much difference this will make now that the election is over.
Via Jesper:
I’m getting the sense Apple has changed its position on how it should operate App Stores in autocracies, or at least the ones where they don’t make a good chunk of their money and nearly all of their products.
We’ve been told that Apple doesn’t like to remove apps but that it’s obligated to follow local regulations. Did the Russian government change its tune? Did Apple’s policy change? Or is this app for some reason an exception? It seems like, as with most App Store stuff, that there is no actual principle other than what Apple decides it feels like doing.
Previously:
