Apple informed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on Friday that it had taken the broadcaster’s app Svoboda (“Liberty”) out of the Russian App Store at the request of Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal censorship agency.
This action follows less than a month after Russian authorities ordered Apple to take down Current Time, an independent media service and website operated by the same Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) organisation.
RFE/RL is a non-profit organisation sponsored by the US Congress through a grant from the US Agency for Global Media. It was purportedly added to Russia’s list of “undesirable organisations” in February 2024.
Roskomnadzor informed Apple that the Russian Service app includes content from an organisation whose actions in Russia have been deemed “undesirable.”
In other regions, the software is still available through Apple’s software Store.
Apple has not responded to the recent case involving RFE/RL’s Current Time app. However, as an international company, it must follow local laws.
For example, US firms operating in Russia are required to open local offices, which Apple did in February 2022.
“[This is] yet another example of how the Russian government sees truthful reporting as an existential threat,” said RFE/RL president Stephen Capus at the time.
News gathered that Apple has also removed or hidden several Russian-language podcasts.
We earlier reported that Apple Distribution International LTD was fined 3.6 million rubles ($36,800) by Moscow’s Tagansky Court for failing to remove illegal content.
