Apple has demanded that Russia’s video platform Rutube hide the Russian state media content in its iOS application within two weeks, reports Russian news agency Interfax, citing Rutube’s press office.
“Apple is offering two ways to solve the Rutube application moderation problem: to make the application only available to Russian users or delete all ‘state-sponsored media’ content. This will lead to the Rutube application not being available to new users from other countries. The updates will be available to those users that have already installed the application,” Interfax cites representatives of Rutube.
If Rutube refuses both options, Apple will delete the application of the video platform from the App Store.
Rutube representatives said that the company was not planning on hiding the Russian state media content. At the same time, the access to the application has been limited to three countries. Currently, only citizens of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan are able to download the application.
Many Russian media started using Rutube after their YouTube channels had been banned.
In May, Rutube had faced “the biggest cyber-attack in its history”, as the company’s representatives called it. The site was not functioning for two days.
In May, the US introduced sanctions against Channel One, Russia-1, and NTV (Russia’s three biggest TV channels - translator’s note). The App Store has deleted applications of various sanctioned companies several times. For example, it deleted applications of Sberbank (Russia’s biggest bank - translator’s note), Alfa-bank, VTB bank, Promsvyazbank, Aeroflot, and Utair.
