Following reports that Apple had removed several VPN apps from its Russia App Store at the request of Roskomnadzor—Russia’s Federal Service for Su

Unveiling the Extent of VPN App Removals by Apple from the Russia App Store: An Analysis of Silent Removals and the Need for Transparency - Apple Censorship

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2024-09-28 23:00:07

Following reports that Apple had removed several VPN apps from its Russia App Store at the request of Roskomnadzor—Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (RKN)—we utilized the AppleCensorship.com App Store Monitor (ASM) to conduct a study on the availability of VPN apps. Media outlets, citing Roskomnadzor, reported that 25 VPNs had been removed. Our primary goal was to verify this figure and identify the VPNs purportedly removed on Roskomnadzor's orders. Our secondary objective was to assess the current number of VPNs unavailable in the Russia App Store to monitor potential future changes.

Unavailable apps were grouped according to their estimated date of removal. The following groups were established (the color indicated fills the “Availability in Russia App Store” column in the table accompanying this report):

6. Late Removals (Purple): 15 VPN apps were removed after August 11, with four of them confirmed to be still available in the early days of September. All were removed on or before September 18.