<\/p>\n
Apple has taken down Russian social network VK\u2019s app from its App Store globally. The social media company said the VKontakte app is not \u201cnot available for download and update in the App Store.\u201d However, apps that are already installed on Apple devices will continue to work but there might be some issues with payments and notifications. Plus, users can access the social network through the mobile website.<\/p>\n
\u201cVK will continue to develop and support applications for iOS. Our experts do everything to maintain and continue to improve user comfort,\u201d the company said in a blog post. But didn\u2019t specify how these apps will be distributed without being on the App Store as Apple doesn\u2019t allow users to sideload apps. Last year, in compliance with local laws, Apple included VK in the suggested apps section displayed while setting up an iPhone in Russia.<\/p>\n
Apple removed the app from the App store because of the UK\u2019s sanctions on Russian companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese apps are being distributed by developers majority-owned or majority-controlled by one or more parties sanctioned by the UK government, in order to comply with these sanctions, Apple terminated the developer accounts associated with these apps, and the apps cannot be downloaded from any App Store, regardless of location. Users who have already downloaded these apps may continue to use them,\u201d an Apple spokesperson told the Verge. We have reached out to the company for more details.<\/p>\n
The VK app is still available on the Google Play Store. has asked Google if it plans to remove those apps.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, the UK imposed 92 sanctions on Russia for imposing \u201csham referendums\u201d in four regions of Ukraine. These sanctions included executives from Gazprombank, which has links to entities controlling VK.<\/p>\n
In response to Apple\u2019s removal of VK\u2019s app, The Russian Digital ministry told state-owned media house RT that it has asked Apple for the reason for the takedown. They also warned they have an unspecified \u201cplan of action\u201d based on the response. Notably, Apple removed apps of RT and Sputnik media outlets from the App Store in March.<\/p>\n
After Russia began its invasion of Ukraine earlier in the year, Apple suspended sales of its products and stopped search ads on the Russian App Store.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apple has taken down Russian social network VK\u2019s app from its App Store globally. The social media company said the VKontakte app is not \u201cnot available for download and update in the App Store.\u201d However, apps that are already installed on Apple devices will continue to work but there might be some issues with payments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1212572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1212571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrity-gossip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1212571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1212571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1212571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1212571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}