{"id":37170,"date":"2022-09-28T15:19:32","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T19:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=37170"},"modified":"2022-09-28T18:23:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T22:23:43","slug":"apple-removes-vk-and-mail-ru-apps-from-the-app-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/28\/apple-removes-vk-and-mail-ru-apps-from-the-app-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Removes VK and Mail.ru Apps From the App Store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleg Danylov<\/a> (via Hacker News<\/a>, Reddit<\/a>):<\/p>\n

The VKontakte social network client and some other VK and Mail.ru applications have been removed from the Apple App Store. All these apps are still available on Google Play.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

This is not the first time that Apple has removed VK applications, the same happened in 2014, but after some time the applications were returned to the store.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

I’m not sure to what extent they are controlled by the Russian government, versus cooperating with them, as US social networks do with our government. The role of sanctions<\/a> is also not clear. I have not heard of new<\/em> sanctions, so if sanctions were the cause you would think Apple would have removed the apps long ago—and that they would not still be on Google Play.<\/p>\n\n

AlexandrB<\/a>:<\/p>\n

My impression is that both services are widely used in “Slavic” countries, not just Russia. In particular, my relatives in Ukraine use both mail.ru and VK. I wonder if this will trigger a move to equivalent American services, like Facebook or Gmail, for some.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

therusskiy<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I am a bit conflicted here. On the one hand I hate VK because it has censorship, they provide tools to police to monitor conversations and crack down on people.<\/p>\n

On the other, now that Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are banned it leaves even less means of communication and spreading information inside Russia, as bad as VK was.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n