To remain in the russian market, Apple removed a significant amount of content from the App Store, including material from independent russian media and several VPN services, following a request from roskomnadzor. russian media outlets reported this.
The company removed not only resources such as podcasts and apps from independent media but also numerous VPN services that could help bypass these restrictions. Failure to comply with these demands could have led Apple to lose its ability to distribute content in russia.
A company representative explained that these actions were driven by the need to ensure that customer service in russia adhered to "democratic principles" and was "supported" by the U.S. government.
Among the deleted apps and content were podcasts from various russian publications, including the russian branch of the BBC. Additionally, throughout 2024, Apple blocked more than 60 VPN services in russia.
It’s worth noting that a large-scale blocking of YouTube began recently in russia, leading to an 80% drop in platform traffic from the country. "Mezha" has explored this issue in more detail in a separate article.