Apple and Google Remove ‘Navalny’ Voting App in Russia

The Russian government had been more and more open in recent days to prevent the app from being used by threatening arrest.

“With the participation of Apple and Google, specific crimes are being committed, the extent of which could increase in the coming days,” said Vladimir Jabarov, a member of the Russian upper house of parliament, on Thursday. “People who contribute to circumventing the responsibility of their parent companies on the territory of the Russian Federation will be punished.”

It remains to be seen whether the admission by Apple and Google on Friday will mark a turning point in how energetically American tech giants are resisting pressure from the Kremlin. As Russia cracks down on dissenting opinions this year, the most popular Silicon Valley platforms remain open to the public so journalists and activists can continue to spread their message. On YouTube, for example, the Navalny team’s investigations into corruption in the Russian elite regularly receive millions of clicks.

But Friday’s move could encourage the Kremlin, as well as governments in other parts of the world, to use threats of prosecuting employees to put pressure on companies. It is a test of Silicon Valley ideals around free speech and an open internet that are weighed not only against profit, but also against the safety of their workers.

Removal of Facebook and Twitter posts, YouTube videos, and other internet content happens fairly regularly as companies try to comply with local laws around the world. In China, Apple removed apps that conflicted with state censorship, including software that would allow Chinese users to access the open global internet. A 2016 court ruling in Russia led Apple and Google to remove LinkedIn from their app stores after LinkedIn failed to comply with a law requiring data about Russian users to be stored within national borders.

But the Google and Apple removals on Friday would have little precedent given the turnout and high profile campaign by Mr Navalny against the Kremlin, said Natalia Krapiva, legal advisor to Access Now, a civil society group that tracks internet censorship. “This is really a new phenomenon to be explored in the app stores,” said Ms. Krapiva.

While companies would prefer to be viewed as impartial platforms, Ms. Krapiva said industry leaders should do more to defend free speech and an open internet, especially if company employees are threatened with criminal prosecution.