Apple Bows to Demands That They Show Crimea as Russian Territory in Russia ⇥ gizmodo.com
Apple has complied with Moscow’s demands to show Crimea, annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as Russian territory. Crimea & the cities of Sevastopol & Simferopol are now displayed as Rus. territory on Apple’s map & weather apps when used in Russia.
The United Nations continues to recognize Crimea as a Ukrainian territory, describing Russia’s presence on the peninsula as an “occupation”. The Russian state spun Apple’s labelling as an “inaccuracy”, as they are wont to do.
Whitney Kimball, Gizmodo:
Earlier this year, Foreign Policy reported that Russia had successfully compelled Apple to store Russian users’ data on servers in Russia — adding that if it follows Russian counterterrorism law, it would be forced to decrypt and surrender user data to the government.
In 2017, Apple removed LinkedIn from the App Store in Russia, and there was some speculation that Apple had quietly stopped updating Telegram in the wake of Russia’s call for a ban on the app. (It eventually did make the updates.)
Earlier this year, I linked to the Foreign Policy report on Apple’s migration of Russian users’ iCloud data to local servers, wondering where the company would draw the line. Apple’s limits haven’t been found yet, as it slowly but surely capitulates to strongman leaders and authoritarian states. Give them an inch, they’ll take a peninsula.