Apple and Google Deleted Russian Opposition Election App

The Russian authority based at Kremlin welcomed a decision by Alphabet's Google and Apple to remove a banned anti-government tactical voting app from their stores on the first day of a Russian parliamentary election.

"This app is illegal in our country, both platforms were notified accordingly and seemingly made this decision in accordance with the letter of the law," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on 18 September.

The app, devised by allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, gives people detailed recommendations on who to vote for in an effort to thwart the electoral chances of the ruling United Russia party which supports President Vladimir Putin.

Peskov said the Kremlin viewed the app negatively.

"These are totally provocative efforts, which are actually harmful to voters," he said.

Mr. Navalny’s team reacted with outrage to the decision, suggesting the companies had made a damaging concession to the Russians.

"Removing the Navalny app from stores is a shameful act of political censorship," an aide to Mr. Navalny, Ivan Zhdanov, said on Twitter. "Russia’s authoritarian government and propaganda will be thrilled."

The Navalny team sought to get the names of their "smart-voting" picks out by other methods, such as automated responses in the messaging app Telegram.

However, Telegram — a Russian-founded service popular with opposition-minded users in authoritarian countries around the world — announced it was taking down the account providing those picks. It was not immediately clear if Telegram had come under government pressure, as well.