On Thursday, a court in Moscow imposed a fine of RUB 400,000 (approximately Rs. 3.5 lakh) on Apple for failing to remove “inaccurate” information related to what Russia terms a “special military operation” in Ukraine, as reported by Russian news agencies.
According to the TASS news agency, this was the first time Apple had received a fine for such an infraction.
An email request for comment from Apple did not receive a response right away. Shortly after Moscow launched tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the business halted all product sales there and restricted the availability of its Apple Pay service.
Long-running disagreements between Moscow and Big Tech over content, censorship, data, and local representation intensified when Russia sent troops into Ukraine.
According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia, Apple paid a fine of RUB 906 million (almost Rs. 80 crore) in a Russian antitrust case charging misuse of its market dominance for mobile apps.
Apple, which remained silent at the time, had previously appealed and “respectfully disagreed” with a FAS finding that the company’s iOS operating system distribution of apps gave its own goods a competitive edge.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, was fined RUB 3 million (almost Rs 26 lakh) for the same infraction, according to a later statement from the same court.
The information that the Russian authorities complained about was well-sourced and in accordance with Wikipedia standards, according to Wikimedia, which has been fined numerous times.
According to the nation’s anti-monopoly commission, in June, a Russian court penalised Alphabet’s Google with RUB 4 billion (approximately Rs 380 crore) for failing to pay an earlier fine over an alleged misuse of its dominant position in the video hosting industry.
