The scale of VPN removal in Russia is worse than previously reported as VPN apps keep disappearing from the local Apple App Store. This is the worryin

Apple keeps removing VPN apps in Russia – and the toll is worse than we thought

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2024-09-24 17:00:06

The scale of VPN removal in Russia is worse than previously reported as VPN apps keep disappearing from the local Apple App Store.

This is the worrying finding coming from an exclusive report from the App Censorship Project that found 60 apps, including some of the best VPN services on the market, were silently removed by Apple between early July and September 18, 2024. Russia's censor body, Roskomnadzor, publicly acknowledged only 25 VPN apps.

While the Kremlin has been targeting VPN tools for longer than a few months, the recent wave of removals began on July 4 when at least four VPN apps reportedly disappeared from the local Apple App Store. At the beginning of September, 50 human rights organizations, media outlets, IT companies, journalistic groups, and public figures wrote an open letter calling on Apple to "immediately restore" VPN apps to its Russian App Store. At that time, though, experts still believed the toll of removed VPN apps was set at 29.

"Apple's silent removal of close to 60 VPN apps from the Russia App Store is not just alarming – it's a direct threat to digital freedom and privacy," said Benjamin Ismail, Director of the App Censorship Project.