Russia Fines Apple Over So-Called LGBTQIA+ Propaganda Posts
Tech giant Apple has been fined by Russia for reportedly breaking the country’s strict laws against any form of LGBTQIA+ expression.
A court in Moscow fined Apple 7.5 million rubles (USD94,000) in three different cases. The fines relate to Russia’s “anti-LGBTQIA+ propaganda” laws. President Vladimir Putin has said these laws fight what he calls “moral decline” in Western countries. These are the first cases against Apple under the newest version of these laws.
The court hearings were mostly secret. Apple’s lawyer, Elena Chetverikova, asked for privacy to protect company secrets. It’s still not clear exactly what Apple did to break the “LGBTQIA+ propaganda” laws.
Things got even less clear after the public returned to the courtroom. Judge Alexandra Anokhina read her summary very quickly, making it hard to understand the details. The Russian news outlet Mediazona reported on this.
They said, “Our reporter notes that the judge read the decision at such a rapid pace it was virtually impossible to grasp the precise details of the claims.” Mediazona added that when they asked the court’s press office for clear records, the reply was simply: “The hearing is closed.”
Apple also scored a fourth fine for not taking down other content that Moscow says is illegal. This content was not related to LGBTQIA+ topics.
Apple And Russian Censorship
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Apple has often done what Russia’s censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, asks. By doing so, Apple has mostly been able to keep working in Russia.
Digital rights group GreatFire and Apple’s own reports show this. In 2023, Apple removed 12 apps in Russia at the government’s request. This is an ongoing pattern. In 2024, Apple reportedly took down nearly 60 apps from its Russian App Store between July and mid-September. Many of these removals happened quietly. The removed apps included several major VPN services. VPNs help users connect to the internet securely and privately. Because of this, Amnezia VPN’s developers called Apple “the largest provider of censorship in the world.”
Before these fines, Apple had also limited access to podcasts from BBC Russian and The Insider, a news site. They also restricted access to Ekho Moskvy, a radio station known for its liberal views. Last November, Apple was fined for not deleting other “prohibited information.”
This isn’t Apple’s first brush with Moscow over LGBTQIA+ content. In August 2023, a Moscow court fined Apple, saying the company didn’t remove “inaccurate” content about the war in Ukraine.
It also accused Apple of using LGBTQIA+ content to target young people and try to make the government unstable. Reports suggested that apps showing same-sex couples were part of the problem.
