Apple has published a new transparency report, which indicates that in 2025, 1213 applications were removed from the Russian segment of the App Store following requests from government agencies. This is sharply more than a year earlier: in 2024, there were 171 such removals, and in 2023 — only 12.
By this metric, Russia has taken the first place in the world. For comparison, in Vietnam, 335 applications were removed from the App Store during the same period, in China — 196, in India — 54. Thus, the Russian figure was approximately 3.5 times higher than Vietnam's and more than 6 times higher than China's.
According to sources, a significant portion of the applications removed from the Russian App Store were VPN services. These have been most frequently under pressure from regulators in recent years due to restrictions on access to blocked resources.
Apple emphasizes in the report that it removes applications from local versions of the App Store in accordance with the legal requirements of the countries where the store operates. The company states that it acts upon requests from government agencies and complies with local legal norms.
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