Russia orders Apple and Google to remove Important Stories, an investigative media app that works without a VPN — leaving Russians without a key source for accessing uncensored news | Tech Radar
Overview
News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
Details
Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards.
Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
Russia orders Apple and Google to remove Important Stories, an investigative media app that works without a VPN — leaving Russians without a key source for accessing uncensored news
Important Stories launched the IStories mobile app in February to make sure information would reach Russians despite widespread censorship
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Apple and Google ordered to remove Important Stories' app in Russia
Launched last February, the IStories app works in Russia without a VPN
The request echoes similar removal orders targeting circumvention tools
A Russian investigative news outlet has just become the latest target of the country's censoring body, Roskomnadzor.
As reported directly by the targeted outlet — Important Stories (IStories) — on Wednesday, authorities have ordered both Apple and Google to remove the IStories mobile app from their official app stores in Russia.
Apple contacted the editorial team about Roskomnadzor's demands — to remove "information distributed in violation of the law." Failing to comply will lead to the app's removal. The notification directed to Google was found in the Lumen database.
Apple removes custom VPN clients from Russian App Store amid Telegram crackdown
Apple removes Ad Guard’s Trust Tunnel from Russian App Store amid censorship push
Russia's major internet services instructed on how to detect VPNs
While it's not clear what information IStories should remove, the removal order could have been issued under a March 2024 law that criminalizes the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions.
The IStories mobile app, in fact, "works in Russia without VPN," according to the news outlet website. The team launched it last February to ensure information would reach Russians despite the latest wave of internet censorship and VPN restrictions.
Roskomnadzor's request echoes similar removal orders targeting circumvention tools. On the same day that IStories was contacted by Apple, the Big Tech giant also notified Ad Guard that its Trust Tunnel client would be removed because it "includes content that is illegal in Russia."
Despite Roskomnadzor lacking precise details about alleged illegal content, the regulator accused the application of spreading "fakes" and "destabilizing the socio-political situation in the Russian Federation."
Founded in 2020 by exiled Russian journalists Roman Anin and Olesya Shmagun, IStories is an independent news outlet specializing in investigative journalism around sensitive topics like the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Talking to Tech Radar, Anin pointed out that Russian authorities have been doing "basically everything to block all sorts of truths inside the country," since the Ukraine invasion began.
Millions of websites, including those of major international news outlets, have been blocked since then, in fact. All major social media platforms have also been restricted, with the latest being the popular messaging app Telegram.
'VPN have adapted' — How these VPN services dodge Russia's censors
Russia's state-backed MAX app may know if you are using a VPN to bypass censorship
Russian i Phone users lose Apple ID payments as Kremlin escalates VPN crackdown
A less than 2-month-old app is now the target. "It already had thousands of downloads, but it's just a brand new app," said Anin, arguing that these requests show that "every source of truth is now seen as a threat."
Anin confirmed to Tech Radar that the IStories mobile app is still available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Russia, at the time of writing. "And I hope Apple and Google don't become instruments of censorship in defense of an authoritarian regime," he added.
Yet, while Google has been mostly resisting these requests so far, Apple has largely accommodated Roskomnadzor's orders. In 2024, for example, Apple removed the app Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, known as Svoboda, from its Russian App Store following a similar request. The same year, the Big Tech giant also delisted at least 60 VPN apps.
IStories is now urging all people in the country to download the app before the big tech giants may comply with the removal orders.
Follow Tech Radar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
Chiara is a multimedia journalist committed to covering stories to help promote the rights and denounce the abuses of the digital side of life – wherever cybersecurity, markets, and politics tangle up. She believes an open, uncensored, and private internet is a basic human need and wants to use her knowledge of VPNs to help readers take back control. She writes news, interviews, and analysis on data privacy, online censorship, digital rights, tech policies, and security software, with a special focus on VPNs, for Tech Radar and Tech Radar Pro. Got a story, tip-off, or something tech-interesting to say? Reach out to chiara.castro@futurenet.com
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
1 Asus’s Intel Core i 7-powered ROG Strix G16 laptop for work and play gets a welcome $100 price cut
2I tried the Samsung S90H OLED TV and it could rival the LG C6
3'Your duty is not yet done' — Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is so popular that it's getting another year of content
4 This is not a drill: Terry Crews has come to Call of Duty
5 Coros' CEO on how the smartwatch maker is bucking the trend by swerving subscriptions
Tech Radar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.
Key Takeaways
- News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
- Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
- Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards
- Unlock instant access to exclusive member features
- Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards
