Starting in April, the new iPhone and other iOS devices sold in Russia will include an additional setup step. In addition to questions about language preference and whether to enable Siri, users will see a screen asking them to install a list of applications from Russian developers. It is not just a regional feature. It’s a concession that Apple has made to legal pressure in Moscow – one that could have implications far beyond Russia’s borders.
The law dates back to 2019, when Russia dictated that all computers, smartphones, smart TVs and so on sold must be preloaded with a selection of state-approved applications that include browsers, messaging platforms and even antivirus services. . Apple stopped shortly; the suggested applications are not preinstalled and users may choose not to download them. But the company’s decision to adjust its pre-installation rules could inspire other repressive regimes to make similar – or even more invasive – demands.
“This comes in the context of years and years in which regulatory pressure has increased on technology companies,” says Adrian Shahbaz, director of democracy and technology at the nonprofit Freedom House for human rights. The country has made a massive effort to reshape its internet control, censorship and mass surveillance mechanisms. And the government has imposed increasingly stringent regulations on national technology companies. “They need to store data on local servers, provide security agencies with decryption keys, and remove content that violates Russian law,” says Shahbaz, although not all companies do all of this. “And now they are required to promote government-approved applications on their platforms.”
The law of pre-installed applications came to be known as the “law against Apple” because it essentially dared Apple to withdraw completely from the Russian market, rather than change the rules of the controlled company’s iPhone ecosystem. Instead, Apple has created an exception that others, including Android makers, do not have. Google, which develops the Android open source mobile operating system, does not directly produce most of the platform’s hardware and does not control which applications are pre-installed on third-party devices. (Google makes the Pixel phone, but doesn’t sell it in Russia.)
Mikhail Klimarev, executive director of the Internet Protection Society, a Russian non-governmental organization, says he believes the law on pre-installed applications has a dual function for the Kremlin. It creates an opportunity to promote applications that the country can oversee and control, while allowing the government to manipulate the technology market. The law will penalize and fine any supplier who sells non-compliant computers and smartphones, rather than the manufacturers who made them – unless, of course, the company sells its products directly to Russia, as Apple does.
“The fact is that the liability for the infringement is imposed not on the seller, but on the retailer,” says Klimarev. “In this case, the law [will be used] to destroy small sellers. And then the big distributors will increase their prices. In Russia, a lot of absurd laws have recently been adopted, which are technically impractical. ”
The situation with mandatory applications in Russia is not the first time Apple has faced invasive legal requirements from an authoritarian government – nor the first time the company has accepted such requests. In particular, to continue operating in China, Apple has agreed to use an internal cloud provider to store the iCloud data and encryption keys of its Chinese customers. And Apple removes apps from its Chinese iOS app store when the government asks. However, the way accommodation for Russian applications during configuration is a new frontier in Apple’s interactions with repressive governments.
“This is part of a broader trend that we have seen in countries like Iran, Turkey and India,” says Shahbaz, Freedom House. “Authorities are channeling frustration with foreign popular applications, while promoting internal equivalents in which data and speech are more strictly controlled by the government. It’s a bait.
From the point of view of both economic and national security, it is easy to understand that governments would like to promote internal software to their own citizens. But in practice, the growing Balkanization of the Internet is eroding the freedom of the Internet around the world and undermining the whole concept of a decentralized global network.