Apple suddenly disables Russians’ access to numerous podcasts from independent journalists

Meduza.io

Apple users registered in Russia suddenly cannot access certain podcasts produced by independent journalists at The Insider, Echo of Moscow, and BBC Russian. On Thursday, Mediazona reported that Russian Apple users can now play the affected podcasts only if they previously downloaded and listened to its episodes. Russian users who never listened to the affected shows can no longer find them in Apple Podcasts search results.

It’s unclear when Apple hid these shows from Russian users. The episodes remain available outside the country, and Russian users can still find them by registering or reregistering an Apple account in a different region.

Apple halted official shipments of its devices to Russia in the aftermath of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the company has faced continued accusations of unofficially cooperating with Russia’s media censor. For example, in September 2024, Apple removed 98 VPN apps from its AppStore in Russia without any public notice or explanation. The tech giant has also delisted the apps of some media outlets blocked in Russia as “foreign agents.”

Background

• Apple says it’s removing RFE/RL apps from Russian App Store at Moscow’s demand
• Apple has removed Meduza’s flagship news podcast ‘What Happened’ from Apple Podcasts, without explaining the reason Earlier this summer, the Russian state censorship authority had asked Apple to block the show
• ‘We know this stuff is complicated, but’ Apple and Google cave to Russian state officials, disabling access to Navalny’s voting initiative