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Tech giants Apple and Google are pausing all product sales and removing Russian state-funded publishers such as RT from its news-related features in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We are deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stand with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence,” Apple said in a statement.
“We are supporting humanitarian efforts, providing aid for the unfolding refugee crisis, and doing all we can to support our teams in the region.”
In their statement, the tech company outlined a number of actions in response to the invasion such as stopping all exports into its sales channels in the country and limiting Apple Pay and other services.
Aside from this, Apple has also ensured that the Russian state media, RT News and Sputnik News, are no longer available for download from the Apple Store outside of the invading country.
On Tuesday, users in Russia were still able to access Apple’s online store but attempts to buy an iPhone revealed that they were not available for delivery.
Google also confirmed that it has removed Russian state-funded publishers from its news-related features, including the Google News search tool.
Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said in a blog post that “in this extraordinary crisis we are taking extraordinary measures to stop the spread of misinformation and disrupt disinformation campaigns online.”
Google already had restricted news companies funded by the Russian government from advertising tools and some features on YouTube.
Meanwhile, RT Deputy Editor-in-Chief Anna Belkina claims that the tech giants that have cut her outlet’s distribution have not pointed to “a single grain of evidence that what RT has reported over these days, and continues to report, is not true.”
“This collective ‘establishment’ seems to be terrified of a mere presence of any outside voice for the fear of losing their historically captive audience, if that audience encounters a different perspective,” her statement said.
With AAP
Eliza Sayon is an experienced writer who specialises in corporate and government communications. She is the content producer for Public Spectrum, an online knowledge-based platform for and about the Australian public sector.
