The Apple logo on a Moscow repair shop, 6 September 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE / YURI KOCHETKOV
Apple removed nearly 60 additional virtual private network (VPN) apps from its Russia App Store between July and September, significantly more than the 25 acknowledged by the Russian authorities, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Apple Censorship Project, which campaigns for greater transparency from Apple over such moves.
According to researchers at GreatFire, an organisation which monitors online censorship in China, data indicates that Apple silently removed nearly 60 VPN services from the Russia App Store between 4 July and 18 September, bringing the total number of VPN apps now unavailable in the country to 98.
The report suggests that the scale of online censorship in Russia is much greater than was previously acknowledged when Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, announced in early July that it would be blocking 25 VPN apps in the Russian App Store, including some of the world’s most popular services such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Proton VPN.
According to the report, more than 20% of the VPN apps tested by GreatFire researchers turned out to be blocked in Russia, despite the fact that Apple had made no public statement to that effect.
“By unilaterally restricting access to these important tools without transparency or due process, Apple is complicit in enabling government censorship. We demand that Apple uphold its commitment to human rights and provide a clear explanation for these actions,” GreatFire said.
A security software that encrypts an internet connection to hide a user’s location, allowing them to access content that might be restricted in their region, as well as hiding which websites they visit from their national authorities, VPNs are considered to be a cornerstone in the fight to keep the internet free from censorship by authoritarian governments.
In March, Russia introduced a new law criminalising the distribution of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions, such as how to set up a VPN.
Russia has long been ranked as one of the worst countries for internet freedom by rights by organisations such as Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders. The crackdown on VPNs forms part of a growing trend of online censorship in Russia that has intensified since the Ukraine war.
