Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, September 28 (Reuters)-Russia asked Apple for an explanation on Wednesday after the VKontakte app run by Russian technology company VK was removed from Apple's App Store app store in the United States.

Roskomnadzor, Russia's communications regulator, said in a statement that the restrictions were discriminatory and violated the right of Russian Internet users to freedom of information and communication.

VK operates VKontakte, a Russian social media platform similar to Facebook.

CTOnews.com learned that VKontakte is the largest local social network in Russia, App, with hundreds of millions of downloads. Development company VK said today that VKontakte has been removed from Apple's App Store. VK said in a statement that some VK apps are now blocked by Apple, so they cannot be downloaded and updated in App Store, and installed apps can continue to run and use on Apple devices.

An Apple spokesman confirmed in a statement that the apps had been removed and access for VK developers had been revoked after the UK recently imposed sanctions on Russia:

"these apps are distributed by developers owned or controlled by one or more political parties approved by the UK government. In order to comply with these sanctions, Apple has terminated the developer account associated with these apps and cannot download these apps from any App Store no matter where they are located. Users who have downloaded these apps can continue to use them."

The Russian Ministry of Digital Affairs confirmed in a statement that it was still investigating the matter.

Not only does VK have a social networking application, it also has an alternative to Play Store called RuStore, and it is the company behind Mail.ru, VK Music and Youla classified ads, and VKontakte has now been removed from App Store. At present, Google has not followed Apple's example of removing VK apps from the Google Play store, and it is unclear whether it will do so in the future.

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