The SaaS founders are blocking their Russian customers

#1

Post by hamza__nouali » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 8:59 PM UTC

Hi everyone,

In the last few days, I started to see many founders from the US and the EU claiming they've blocked their Russian customers even though there is nothing mentioned in their policy and their terms of use.

According to this, can the Russian customers sue those founders?

What about the GDPR rules that prevent websites from tracking visitors' locations?

Re: The SaaS founders are blocking their Russian customers

#2

Post by verdverm » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 9:28 PM UTC

Most TOS have room for cancellation by the vendor. They could also refuse to renew their service. Customers could try going to court maybe?

GDPR is for the EU, which Russia is not a part of, so it doesn't apply. Even so, GDPR allows for monitoring IP addresses, for example to ban an abusive IP.

Re: The SaaS founders are blocking their Russian customers

#3

Post by bluish29 » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 9:30 PM UTC

GDPR applies to EU citizens and residents and I don't think it prevents tracking for the purpose of blocking.

Re: The SaaS founders are blocking their Russian customers

#4

Post by mytailorisrich » Thu, Mar 03, 2022, 9:31 PM UTC

If the customer is an individual that may also be unlawful racial discrimination as the definition, at least the EU/UK, includes nationality.

Now, suing a company in a foreign country is no walk in the park.