- Apple and Google ordered to remove the Important Stories application in Russia
- Launched last February, the IStories application works in Russia without a VPN
- This request echoes similar removal measures targeting circumvention tools.
A Russian investigative media outlet has become the latest target of the country’s censorship body, Roskomnadzor.
As directly reported by the targeted media outlet – Important Stories (IStories) – on Wednesday, authorities ordered Apple and Google to remove the IStories mobile app from their official app stores in Russia.
Apple contacted the editorial team about Roskomnadzor’s requests to remove “information distributed in violation of the law.” Failure to follow this rule will result in removal of the application. The notification to Google was found in the Lumen database.
Although it is unclear what information IStories should remove, the removal order could have been issued under a March 2024 law that criminalizes the dissemination of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions.
In fact, the IStories mobile app “works in Russia without a VPN,” according to the media outlet’s website. The team launched it last February to ensure information reached Russians despite the latest wave of internet censorship and VPN restrictions.
Roskomnadzor’s request echoes similar takedown measures targeting circumvention tools. The same day that IStories was contacted by Apple, the Big Tech giant also informed AdGuard that its TrustTunnel client would be removed because it “includes content that is illegal in Russia.”
IStories app censorship – what we know
Although Roskomnadzor lacks precise details on the alleged illegal content, the regulator accused the app of spreading “fakes” and “destabilizing the socio-political situation in the Russian Federation.”
Founded in 2020 by exiled Russian journalists Roman Anin and Olesya Shmagun, IStories is an independent media outlet specializing in investigative journalism on sensitive topics such as the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Speaking to TechRadar, Anin pointed out that Russian authorities have been doing “virtually everything to block all kinds of truths inside the country” since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, millions of websites, including those of major international media outlets, have been blocked. All major social media platforms have also been restricted, the latest being the popular messaging app Telegram.
An application less than 2 months old is now the target. “It’s already been downloaded thousands of times, but it’s just a brand new app,” Anin said, saying these requests show that “any source of truth is now considered a threat.”
Anin confirmed to TechRadar that at the time of writing, the IStories mobile app is still available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Russia. “And I hope that Apple and Google will not become instruments of censorship to defend an authoritarian regime,” he added.
Yet even though Google has so far resisted these demands, Apple has largely complied with Roskomnadzor’s orders. In 2024, for example, Apple removed the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty app, known as Svoboda, from its Russian App Store following a similar request. The same year, the Big Tech giant also delisted at least 60 VPN apps.
IStories is now urging everyone in the country to download the app before major tech giants can comply with removal orders.
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