2023-08-03 19:02:46
A Apple was fined by a Court of Russia for not pulling podcasts and news from Apple News and other apps with information deemed false. The content had as its theme Russia’s military actions in the war against Ukraine; the country’s legislation prohibits criticizing/defaming the Russian army, although such classification can be so broad as to also encompass simple criticism and disagreements or the defense of the Ukrainian side.
According to the Associated PressApple was fined 400 thousand rubles (more than R$20,600) by a justice of the peace of a court that deals with administrative violations and crimes of lesser offensive potential. The Wikimedia Foundation, which manages the Wikipediawas also sanctioned, but at a much higher amount (3 million rublesabout R$160,000), also due to allegedly disseminating inaccurate information about the war.
It was unclear whether the judge hearing the case took into account the fact that Apple News is, as you remembered the AppleInsider, a content aggregator — and not the creator of the content with said false information. It is possible that just the fact that the app displays the news and podcasts was enough to frame it in the ban.
According to Archyde.com, the Court found that the content that should have been removed “was intended to involve minors in illegal activities to destabilize the political situation in the Russian Federation”. This was the first time that Apple had been convicted of this violation; during the trial, the company’s lawyers asked that the procedure be conducted behind closed doors due to the risk of leaking industrial secrecy.
It is worth noting that this measure, although not taken by Russia’s executive branch, is only a small part of how the opposition has been increasingly silenced since the start of the war. Being in an armed conflict against Ukraine, the Russian government has been adopting postures quite contrary to any kind of demonstration in favor of the Ukrainian side or even criticism of Russian positions.
It’s also important to point out that this isn’t the first time Apple has been sanctioned or distanced itself from Russia. With the war, official product sales were suspended in the country. Apple has also been accused of facilitating US agencies to spy on Russian citizens using iPhones, which the company has disputed, in addition to being fined for antitrust issues by a Russian regulatory body.
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