Apple is taking down VPN apps following the Russian censorship agency demands

I&#x27;ve been arguing here that Apple should not decide what apps a user can run on an owned device, yet, scores of commenters right here, on Hacker News, were telling me, &quot;do research prior to buying the device&quot;. No, you shouldn&#x27;t.<p>Apple should be stripped off this power. EU&#x27;s DMA is a first step, but we need such policies applied everywhere. So far, the only ones who benefit from AppStore monopoly are Apple themselves and various authoritarians around the world.

As of now, we&#x27;ve confirmed that seven VPN apps have been removed from the Russian App Store:<p>Hidemy.Name VPN IVPN Le VPN NordVPN Private Internet Access VPN Proton VPN Red Shield VPN<p>Some of these providers, including Le VPN and Red Shield VPN, were actively involved in resisting Roskomnadzor&#x27;s efforts to block Telegram in Russia back in 2018. This action by Apple, in compliance with Roskomnadzor&#x27;s demands, appears to be more extensive than initially thought. It may indicate a broader crackdown on VPN services in Russia and potentially occupied territories, rather than just a preliminary step. The situation continues to develop, and we&#x27;ll monitor for any further removals or policy changes affecting VPN accessibility in the region.

Selling its customers to authoritarian regimes is par for the course for Apple. Anyone living in such countries and worried about privacy are better off buying Pixel and installing GrapheneOS.

Just a bit more context on the whole RKN situation in Russia:<p>RKN tried to block Telegram in Russia in 2018 but they couldn&#x27;t block it after a few years of struggle.<p>In 2024 RKN already pushed away big VPN players who were too big and slow to adapt and obfuscate their protocols.<p>They do this in waves:<p>1) first just notices 2) then website domain block 3) then they sent abuse requests to hosting companies, like this:<p>&quot;It is notice of making an entry into the &quot;Unified register of domain names, Internet web-site page links and network addresses enabling to identify the Internet web-sites containing the information prohibited for public distribution in the Russian Federation” the Internet web-site page (s) link (s): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xxx.xxx&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xxx.xxx&#x2F;</a> .<p>In case the hosting provider and (or) the Internet web-site owner fail to take these measures, the network address enabling to identify Internet web-sites containing the information prohibited for distribution in the Russian Federation will be decided to be entered into the Register and access will be limited.<p>The information about entering the domain names, Internet web-site page links and network addresses into the Register shall be available on a 24-hour basis at the following Internet address: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;eais.rkn.gov.ru&#x2F;en&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;eais.rkn.gov.ru&#x2F;en&#x2F;</a> .<p>Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (ROSKOMNADZOR).&quot;<p>They did send takedown requests in 2018 too, but somehow every hosting provider at that point of time knew that this was bs and they mostly ignored that.<p>4) Block internal API domains to disrupt VPN apps<p>5) And finally request app removal from App Store.<p>My guess is it&#x27;s their final chance to win this situation.<p>In 2018 RKN pressured Apple to remove the Telegram app too.<p>Apple even suspended Telegram app updates for some time.

Apple loves 1984 theme, 4 decades ago they even made a commercial with reference to it

Apple is bowing down to fascists.

There&#x27;s more to this: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.le-vpn.com&#x2F;le-vpn-responds-to-removal-from-russian-app-store-reveals-rkn-notice-details&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.le-vpn.com&#x2F;le-vpn-responds-to-removal-from-russi...</a>

Apple doing business in Russia at all is pathetic