Apple Fined by Russia Court for Not Deleting Allegedly Inaccurate Content

A Moscow courtroom fined Apple RUB 400,000 (practically Rs. 3.5 lakh) on Thursday for not deleting “inaccurate” content material about what Russia calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian information businesses reported. 

The TASS information company mentioned it was the primary time Apple had been fined for that offence. 

Apple didn’t instantly reply to an emailed request for remark. The firm paused all product gross sales in Russia shortly after Moscow despatched tens of hundreds of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and restricted its Apple Pay service in Russia.

Moscow has clashed with Big Tech for years over content material, censorship, knowledge and native illustration in disputes that escalated after Russia despatched its armed forces into Ukraine.

Apple paid a RUB 906 million (practically Rs. 80 crore) tremendous in a Russian antitrust case alleging abuse of its dominance within the cell apps market, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) mentioned in February. 

Apple, which didn’t remark then, had beforehand appealed and “respectfully disagreed” with a FAS ruling that Apple’s distribution of apps by means of its iOS working system gave its personal merchandise a aggressive benefit.

The similar courtroom later mentioned it had fined the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, RUB 3 million (practically Rs. 26 lakh) for a similar offence. 

Wikimedia has been fined a number of occasions and has beforehand mentioned info that Russian authorities complained about was well-sourced and in step with Wikipedia requirements.

In June, a Russian courtroom fined Alphabet’s Google RUB 4 billion (roughly Rs. 380 crore) for failing to pay an earlier tremendous over alleged abuse of its dominant place within the video internet hosting market, the nation’s anti-monopoly watchdog mentioned.

© Thomson Reuters 2023