Apple has been criticized for capitulating to Chinese demands, now the tech giant has complied with Russian demands to show Crimea as part of Russian territory on its apps, according to the BBC.
The Crimean Peninsula was annexed by the Russian Federation between February and March 2014, and since then has been administered as two Russian federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. The global consensus was that the country was invaded and llegally annexed.
Crimea is now displayed as Russian territory on Apple Maps and Weather, when viewed from inside Russia. However, Apple Maps and Weather do not show Crimea as part of any country, when viewed outside Russia, notes the BBC.
Also, in February, it was reported that the Russian security services could soon have access to the personal data of thousands of Apple users in Russia, following the tech giant’s decision to comply with Russian law and store user data on servers in the country, according to an FP article.
The report says that Roskomnadzor, the Russian government agency that oversees media and telecommunications, has confirmed for the first time that Apple Russia will adhere to a 2014 law that requires any company handling the digital data of Russian citizens to process and store it on servers physically located in Russia. Under Russian counterterrorism laws, Apple could be compelled to decrypt and hand over user data to security services on request.
Bowing to Russian demands would seem to go against Apple’s principals, but the company has given in before to Russian demands. In July 2017 the Linkedin app for the iPhone was removed. Russian authorized demand it be removed, claiming it violated the country’s data protection rules.
