Russia Fines Apple for Not Deleting ‘Inaccurate’ Content material on Ukraine Battle

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Moscow court docket fined Apple 400,000 roubles ($4,274) on Thursday for not deleting “inaccurate” content material about what Russia calls a “particular navy operation” in Ukraine, Russian information businesses reported.

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

Apple didn’t instantly reply to an emailed request for remark. The corporate 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 Huge Tech for years over content material, censorship, information and native illustration in disputes that escalated after Russia despatched its armed forces into Ukraine.

Apple paid a 906-million-rouble high-quality in a Russian antitrust case alleging abuse of its dominance within the cell apps market, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) stated 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 way of its iOS working system gave its personal merchandise a aggressive benefit.

The identical court docket later stated it had fined the Wikimedia Basis, which owns Wikipedia, 3 million roubles for a similar offence.

Wikimedia has been fined a number of occasions and has beforehand stated data that Russian authorities complained about was well-sourced and according to Wikipedia requirements.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Modifying by Gareth Jones)

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