Apple has bowed to pressure from the Russian government and has removed several iPhone VPN apps from the country’s App Store, according to a report from AppleInsider.
Apple’s App Store team has been notifying VPN developers that their apps are being removed “per demand from Roskomnadzor,” which is the state media regulator that has previously forced both Apple and Google to remove apps from their app stores.
According to the Moscow Times, the demand was based on how the apps include “content that is illegal in Russia.” The demand is part of the regulator’s increasing efforts to block VPN services.
According to Reuters, as many as 25 VPN firms have now had their apps removed.
VPN usage has reportedly increased dramatically in Russia following the start of the war with Ukraine. That is when Russian regulators put up virtual roadblocks preventing access to several Western social media sites.
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are used to encrypt a user’s internet connection, hiding a user’s online activities. VPN also temporarily assigns a fresh IP address to a connected device. Since an IP address can be used to determine a user’s geographical location, a VPN hides their real location, making it tougher to track down the user. This allows users to both access content that would normally be blocked to them and to protect their identity.