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Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

reuters.com

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Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#331

Post by viktorcode »

lotusmars wrote: post #239
viktorcode wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was published on a Telegram channel: https://t.me/A000MP97/93

Honestly Apple's Russian executives look very weak and unprepared in this video. I suspect they're just hired from some agency or consultancy as FAANG have very limited corporate presence in Russia. So they just keep being sheepish and stumbling because they have no incentive to stand their ground. Just hired guns.

From what I gather it was an unexpected invitation for the companies. They learned about it only a day before.

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#332

Post by devwastaken »

viktorcode wrote: post #85

Reuters doesn't report this, but the government officials threatened the companies (Apple and Google) with jail time for their employees yesterday. After that the companies finally conceded. There's a short video fragment from the meeting of the government officials and the companies representatives. It's worth watching, especially if you come from a democratic nation. Letting your Russian employees be persecuted don…

So actual teeth (arrests) in policy works? U.S should make notes. We're due for new treason (aiding a foreign adversary) laws that cover global companies.

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#333

Post by hnlmorg »

jsnell wrote: post #307
hnlmorg wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google didn't entirely pull out of China, they just terminated their product lines that were unsuccessful in China. I was also just posting a fact that people have made the same calls for China, not my personal opinion about whether we "should" discontinue services with China. On that last point, I'm honestly undecided.

That's just an outright lie. The product they pulled was search. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_China it had a 36% search market share.

> That's just an outright lie.

Your citation literally contradicts your rebuttal!

> By November 2013, Google's search market share in China had declined to 1.7% from its August 2009 level of 36.2%

^ that's literally in the Wiki article you posted! So I have no idea why you're assuming I'm lying (which is an accusation that I'm intending to deceive you ffs) nor even why you think that link backs up your claim when it literally states the same thing I had (their Search product sucked (due to censorship) so they redirected to HK and focused on other products).

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#334

Post by tailspin2019 »

QuarterReptile wrote: post #250
throw_m239339 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pull out of the countries then. Then why Apple hasn't pulled out of China? Like 2 decades ago? China was always a brutal dictatorship. Why would they pull out of anything? These company profit from bloody dictatorships, like the rest of the western economy. But somehow when it's about Russia it's a problem? The hypocrisy in the west must stop. The west and it's industry never stood for freedom abroad since it decid…

>Tell that to Apple in China, a country that is literally using slave workforce from concentration camps. Source?

Doesn't seem to take much Googling to find some reputable looking sources...

> China uses Uyghur forced labour to make solar panels, says report

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57124636

> There’s a good chance your cotton T-shirt was made with Uyghur slave labor... Much of the world’s cotton comes from the Uyghur region, where the Chinese government is ethnically cleansing its Muslim minority. Fashion conglomerates know this

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/09/cotton...

> Despite having initially denied the existence of camps, authorities later described them as “vocational training” centres. Nevertheless, satellite imagery indicated that an increasing number of camps continued to be built throughout the year.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/eas...

EDIT: I was confused by the downvotes given that the above aren't exactly fringe outlets. I imagine people may be conflating the mention of "Apple" and "slave labour" in the parent comment. I'm not supporting the idea that Apple are using slave labour in China - I have no idea on that front. (And if you reread the parent it's not necessarily what they were suggesting either.) The sources above merely seem to show that there are reports in general of forced labour and forced detention in China. That said... this was the result of quick first-page Googling and I'm admittedly pretty ignorant on this topic.

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#335

Post by nullifidian »

viktorcode wrote: post #85

Reuters doesn't report this, but the government officials threatened the companies (Apple and Google) with jail time for their employees yesterday. After that the companies finally conceded. There's a short video fragment from the meeting of the government officials and the companies representatives. It's worth watching, especially if you come from a democratic nation. Letting your Russian employees be persecuted don…

As a Russian I say they should have hired "martyrs" from opposition onto the jailable positions. Not having "martyrs" on these positions saved Putin's regime a lot of face, of actually persecuting a famous companys' local division directors for not censoring the internet. Now they know how to force these companies to do what they want, and do it quickly.

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#336

Post by [deleted] »

dilap wrote: post #286
tut-urut-utut wrote: post #272

How is that different from Apple and Google removing apps of Trump supporters and social media companies closing their communication channels? Is it democratic, as opposed to this case, just because companies did it without an official request from the government/courts? Here's comes to mind the old saying: "a King only has to think about something, and others will do it without him even asking. Smaller players will…

Beyond even Trump supporters, Twitter banned Trump himself. (While he was still the democratically-elected president!) Among those alarmed by the move were...Navalny, who described it as "an unacceptable act of censorship". https://twitter.com/navalny/status/1347969772177264644?lang=...

[deleted]

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#337

Post by tut-urut-utut »

keewee7 wrote: post #325
tut-urut-utut wrote: post #272

How is that different from Apple and Google removing apps of Trump supporters and social media companies closing their communication channels? Is it democratic, as opposed to this case, just because companies did it without an official request from the government/courts? Here's comes to mind the old saying: "a King only has to think about something, and others will do it without him even asking. Smaller players will…

>he's a racist No, he is not. Navalny was against banning a right-wing group from protesting and exercising their freedom of speech. He explicitly condemned their racism and hatred but said it was wrong to limit their freedom of speech: >In late 2006, Navalny appealed to the Moscow City Hall, asking it to grant permission to conduct the nationalist 2006 Russian march. However, he added that Yabloko (Navalny's party)…

> >he's a racist

> No, he is not.

Yes, he is.

For example, he never distanced himself from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVNJiO10SWw

Even if you don't speak Russian, the message is clear. People in the USA have been labelled as racists for much lesser offences.

https://globalvoices.org/2013/07/25/ethnic-slurs-haunt-alexe...

A quick google “Navalny racist” will bring many sources, some of them in English, that points to his various racist incidents.

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#338

Post by viktorcode »

tolmasky wrote: post #249
viktorcode wrote: post #85

Reuters doesn't report this, but the government officials threatened the companies (Apple and Google) with jail time for their employees yesterday. After that the companies finally conceded. There's a short video fragment from the meeting of the government officials and the companies representatives. It's worth watching, especially if you come from a democratic nation. Letting your Russian employees be persecuted don…

Allow side-loading so that you don’t leave yourself open to a situation where the only way your customers get access to a voting app is by having your employees jailed. The AppStore creates an easily exploitable bottleneck for governments to take advantage of. The hkmap.live situation during the protests in Hong Kong was similar.

The app is still available in other countries, so in order to install it in Russia one just have to create another Apple account to install it from a foregn app store on the device.

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#339

Post by luckylion »

57844743385 wrote: post #231

The most important thing for these companies is money. Money above ever other consideration. Money money money. Human rights … whatever. Politics …. Whatever. Democracy …. Whatever. Money money money money.

It's the motivator for their employees as well, or did you think they work on profile-creation, all-encompassing tracking and ad-delivery because they honestly believe it's the best thing to do for humanity?

Re: Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

#340

Post by tailspin2019 »

emilsedgh wrote: post #150
Wolfenstein98k wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pull out of the countries then. Participating in dictatorship is barely better than refusing to do so if that dictatorship will falsely imprison your employees.

I come from a 3rd world dictatorship country. I don't really think that'd help. It'd further isolate those countries, making them more and more authoritarian and less and less educated. Google pulling out of any country for help democracy either.

Interested in your thoughts on what would help? From your point of view?
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