According to a sequence of tweets from Alexey Navalny’s team on Friday; a voting software developed by allies of the renowned Kremlin critic was pulled from Google and Apple’s online stores in Russia just as polls opened for parliamentary elections.
As part of his campaign to keep the imprisoned dissident company; Ivan Zhdanov shared an email he said was from Apple; stating the app had been removed from the App Store. According to the email; Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation was removed because it was deemed “extreme” by Russian authorities, a reference to his now illegal political organization. As a result; the app contains material that is deemed “illegal” by the locals.
The Navalny app includes suggestions for the opposition leader’s “Smart Voting” approach; which pushes Russians to vote tactically in support of a candidate most capable of unseating an incumbent from the ruling party United Russia in the State Duma elections. Moscow spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that the Kremlin believes that the voting method is harmful to voters and a “provocation”.
The Russian government has increased its pressure on U.S. technology businesses in recent months. Some have received hefty fines for failing to take down content deemed “extremist” or “undesirable” by the government. In addition; Russian state media stated earlier this week that bailiffs had paid a visit to the Google office in Russia on that particular day.
According to Roskomnadzor, the Russian internet authority; Google and Apple have been ordered to withdraw the “Navalny” software from their respective online shops. Last Friday; the Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement saying; that the US Ambassador to Russia had been “summoned” to be informed that Russia has “irrefutable evidence of the violation of Russian legislation by the American digital giants” in relation to the elections.
No official remarks have been made by either Apple or Google; on the withdrawal of the app from their Russian internet shops.