Applications that were considered undesirable or even banned in Russia disappeared from Valve and Apple’s marketplaces.
Independently of each other, two large marketplaces also started to reduce content in Russia. Apple has removed the Current Time app from the Russian version of the App Store after the Russian-language media service of Radio Free Europe and its website were flagged as unwanted content by the country’s mass media and telecommunications authority, Roskomnadzor.
Apple’s cooperation with the authorities has been criticized by several people, saying that it plays into the hands of a regime that is doubling down on its efforts to suppress independent media after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Valve, which operates Steam, was probably guided by a similar principle, which removed more than 260 content deemed problematic, including links to websites, from the largest marketplace for PC games, also in compliance with Roskomnadzor’s request – reported about it Interfax.
By the way, the two cases are far from unprecedented, the fact that something is removed or not made available in a given market can be for political as well as cultural, economic or simply technical reasons. Hungarian users don’t have access to everything on Steam, either Injustice: Gods Among Us The fighting game is unavailable in our region due to the red star, a symbol of autocracy.
Source: www.pcwplus.hu
