Samuel Axon
Apple has halted all sales of its products in Russia in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, the company announced this afternoon. Online sales were immediately halted, with the company saying it stopped shipping products to Russian retail channels at some point last week.
Apple has also made changes to some of its services in response to the invasion; Russian state-owned media companies RT and Sputnik have both had their apps removed from Apple’s App Stores in all areas outside of Russia, and the company has stopped providing traffic and live incident data for Ukraine in Apple Maps “as a safety precaution.” and precaution for Ukrainian citizens.” The Apple Pay service is also “limited” – the company has not given any details about it, but transactions are no longer supported by a number of Russian banks hit by sanctions.
In an internal email (via MacRumors), Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company “donated to humanitarian relief and aided the unfolding refugee crisis”. Apple would also match employee donations to “eligible organizations” 2-to-1.
Apple joins many other tech companies — including but not limited to Microsoft, Google, and Meta — in delisting and de-prioritising Russian state-controlled media on its platforms. Microsoft has removed RT and Sputnik apps from the Windows Store and restricted their presence on its Bing search engine, while YouTube has blocked RT and Sputnik content in Europe and has demonized their content elsewhere. Meta takes down bot networks on Facebook and Instagram and provides tools to protect the accounts and personal data of Ukrainian and Russian citizens. The US and other countries have also blocked the export of chips, telecom equipment and other hardware to Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
“We will continue to evaluate the situation and communicate with relevant governments on the actions we are taking,” Apple said in a statement.
