Apple said on Tuesday it has halted all product sales in Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We are deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stand with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence,” Apple said in a statement. “We are supporting humanitarian efforts, providing aid for the unfolding refugee crisis, and doing all we can to support our teams in the region.”
The company outlined a number of actions in response to the invasion, including stopping all exports into its sales channels in the country. Apple Pay and other services have been limited, the company said. The Russian state media, RT News and Sputnik News, are no longer available for download from the Apple Store outside Russia.
MacDailyNews Take: Not really much of a problem for Apple since Russia’s entire GDP is less than that of Texas (US$1.709 billion vs. $1.772 billion, respectively). Russia is small potatoes; a poor podunk nation with, unfortunately, a bunch of aging nukes left over from yet another failed socialist state, headed by a despot with a raging Napoleon complex.
So, while we agree with Apple halting product sales, we believe people are smarter than Apple seems to think and that propaganda can and should be seen, not censored, as it tells us more about the perpetrators and their motives than does a vacuum created by censorship.
Apple should rethink their relatively newfound knee-jerk propensity to censor. Apple should not treat their customers as if they’re stupid, unable to handle ideas or discern truth. Apple, or any other Big Tech company, should not be playing Big Brother, arbiter of “truth.”
People who are confident in their ideas and values do not need to impose silence on anyone.
• RT News: https://www.rt.com
• Sputnik News: https://sputniknews.com
As we often write, the best way to consume “news” is to cast a wide net.
As always, readers of “news” need to consider the sources and interpret what they are are being told accordingly. The more disparate sources you can find, the better. And we don’t mean different newspaper, network, website brands that are all owned by the same conglomerate. Determining the actual ownership of your “news” sources is an investment that requires a bit of time, but it is very enlightening. — MacDailyNews Take, June 17, 2015
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.