Apple removes 25 VPN apps from its online store in Russia, Interfax reports
LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) -Apple has removed 25 virtual private network (VPN) applications from its App Store in Russia, the Interfax news agency said on Thursday, as Moscow cracks down on services that help people circumvent online restrictions.
A Russian lawmaker said earlier that Apple had deleted Red Shield VPN, Le VPN, Proton VPN and NordVPN in compliance with orders from communications regulator Roskomnadzor.
Reuters reporters in Moscow confirmed that none of the four VPNs were available for download from the App Store.
VPN Generator, a free Russian service, said another three products had also been removed. Reuters could not independently verify this.
Interfax did not specify which apps had been affected.
"Apple's actions, motivated by a desire to retain revenue from the Russian market, actively support an authoritarian regime," Red Shield VPN said in a statement.
"This is not just reckless but a crime against civil society," it added.
Apple AAPL.O did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on a U.S. public holiday.
Millions of people across Russia have downloaded VPNs to bypass government censors and access content banned by authorities. Around 150 VPNs are currently blocked and Roskomnadzor wants to completely eliminate the services.
Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has put dozens of opposition media websites on blacklists and banned several foreign social media platforms in a crackdown it casts as part of an information war unleashed by the West after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
This has fostered a cottage industry of freelance programmers and VPN companies working to build stronger tools to evade censors.
"...Apple is one of the few American companies that strive to comply with Russian legislation and maintain a dialogue with the regulator," Anton Gorelkin, deputy head of the parliamentary committee on information policy, said on Telegram.
"I am sure that this position is dictated by the desire to officially return to the Russian market in the long term."
Moscow has clashed for years with Big Tech, including Apple, in disputes over content, data and censorship which escalated after the start of the war.
Apple paused all product sales in Russia soon after the Ukraine invasion and limited its Apple Pay service in Russia.
($1 = 88.1955 roubles)
Reporting and writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Alexander Marrow and Alexander Smith
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