Apple removes Radio Free Europe application from Russian App Store
Radio Free Europe no longer broadcasts on iPhone and iPad with the Current Time app. Apple is thus implementing a decision by the Russian media regulator.
Russian flag with barrier and stop sign (symbolic image).
(Image: Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock.com)
Apple has carried out a new censorship measure in the App Store on the orders of the Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor. The piquant thing about this is that an app financed by the US government was deleted. This was reported by the American foreign broadcaster Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which is affected by the censorship.
"Foreign agent" deleted
The deleted app is Current Time (local name: Radio Svoboda), which can be used to view the Russian-language TV and digital program of the same name. It is operated by RFE/RL and sees itself as an independent alternative to the Kremlin-controlled state media in the Russian Federation. The broadcaster had already been dubbed a "foreign agent" by the Russian Ministry of Justice in December 2017 – along with eight other American public media outlets.
In a letter from the group to RFE/RL, it states that the reason for the removal is that the content of Current Time is "illegal in Russia" and that the disseminated materials originate from an "undesirable organization" (in the Russian Federation). RFE/RL itself has no longer been active in Russia since March 2022, after the Russian tax authorities, among others, tried to drive the organization into bankruptcy. The state has been fighting the organization "for years", it was said at the time.
Apple has already blocked numerous VPN apps
The deletion of Current Time is not Apple's first censorship measure in the Russian App Store. Previously, 25 popular VPN apps were blocked on the instructions of Roskomnadzor in July, followed by almost 100 more in September. It is unclear why Apple continues to operate the App Store in Russia at all. The company actually largely discontinued its business in the country after the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022. Data from Russian services is no longer being sourced and hardware sales have been officially discontinued. However, this is now continuing via gray imports – Recently, a MacBook Pro M4 was allegedly leaked in Russia.
RFE/RL was set up by the US Congress and works within the United States Agency for Global Media. The agency is supposed to promote democracy worldwide and is responsible for all international government radio and TV programs that are not of military origin.
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