Corporate de-escalation: Why did Apple and Google agree to take down Navalny’s app? And what does it mean for the RuNet? We asked an expert.

Just a few weeks ago, Russia's federal censor blocked the website for Alexey Navalny's voting initiative "Smart Vote." On September 15, Navalny's team went ahead and released their list of recommended candidates regardless, uploading it to a Google Doc. Later that evening, Google Docs became temporarily unavailable inside Russia. On the first day of voting in the State Duma elections, September 17, tech giants Apple and Google caved to pressure from the Russian authorities and pulled Navalny's mobile app from the App Store and Google Play. What's more, Apple disabled its new "Private Relay" feature for users inside Russia. To find out more about whether or not Apple and Google had a choice in these matters -- and what this means for the future of the RuNet -- Meduza spoke to lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan from the digital rights group Roskomsvoboda. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/09/17/corporate-de-escalation