Beginning of April new iPhones and other iOS devices sold in Russia will include an additional installation step. In addition to questions about language preference and whether Siri should be enabled, users will also see a screen asking them to install a list of programs from Russian developers. It’s not just a local quirk. This is a concession that Apple has granted to the legal pressure from Moscow – one that could have consequences far beyond Russia’s borders.
The law in question dates back to 2019, when Russia prescribed that all computers, smartphones, smart TVs, etc., sold there must be preloaded with a variety of state-approved programs that include browsers, messenger platforms and even antivirus services. Apple stopped shortly thereafter; the proposed programs are not pre-installed, and users can choose not to download them. But the company’s decision to bend its rules on pre-installations could inspire other repressive regimes to make similar demands – or even more intrusive.
“This comes in the context of years and years of increasing regulatory pressure on technology enterprises” in Russia, says Adrian Shahbaz, director of democracy and technology at the Human Rights Freedom House. The country has made great efforts to reform its internet mechanisms for control, censorship and mass surveillance. And the government has introduced increasingly stringent regulations on local technology companies. “They have to store data on local servers, provide security agencies with decryption keys and remove content that violates Russian law,” Shahbaz said. , although not all companies do all of these things. “And now they are being forced to promote government – approved programs on their platforms.”
The pre-installed app law became known as the ‘law against Apple’ because it actually dared Apple to withdraw from the Russian market altogether rather than change the rules in the company’s iPhone ecosystem. Instead, Apple cut an exception that others, including Android manufacturers, did not have. Google, which develops the open source Android operating system, does not manufacture most of the platform’s hardware directly and does not control which apps are pre-installed on third-party devices. (Google does make the Pixel phone, but does not sell it in Russia.)
Mikhail Klimarev, executive director of the Internet Protection Society, a Russian non-governmental organization, says he believes the pre-installed application law has a dual function for the Kremlin. It creates an opportunity to promote programs that can monitor and control the country, while also allowing the government to manipulate the technology market. The law will fine and penalize any seller who sells incompatible computers and smartphones, rather than the manufacturers who made it – unless, of course, the company also sells their products directly in Russia, as Apple does.
“The fact is that the responsibility for the offense is not imposed on the seller, but on the dealer,” 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, many absurd laws have been passed recently that are technically impractical. ”
The situation with Russia’s mandatory applications is not the first time that Apple has been confronted by intrusive legal requirements of an authoritarian government, nor is it the first time that the company has complied with these demands. In particular, to continue working in China, Apple has agreed to use a local cloud provider to store iCloud data and encryption keys of Chinese customers. And Apple removes apps from its Chinese iOS App Store when the government demands it. However, the accommodation for Russian programs during the draft is a new frontier in Apple’s interaction with oppressive governments.
“This is part of a broader trend we’ve seen in countries like Iran, Turkey and India,” said Shahbaz of Freedom House. “Authorities channel frustration with popular foreign programs while promoting local equivalents where data and speech are better controlled by the government. It’s a bait-and-switch. ‘
From an economic and national security point of view, it is to some extent understandable that governments want to promote domestic software for their own citizens. But in practice, the Internet’s growing Balkanization is eroding Internet freedom worldwide and undermining the whole concept of a decentralized, global web.