Issued on: 18/09/2021 -
In this file photo taken on February 20, 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny stands inside a glass cell during a court hearing at the Babushkinsky district court in Moscow. © Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP
Text by: NEWS WIRES
Allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny accused Apple and Google of "censorship" on Friday after they removed an opposition voting app at the start of a three-day parliamentary election in Russia.
Polls opened across the vast country on Friday after a year that saw a sweeping crackdown on President Vladimir Putin's opponents, with Russians given the option of voting online.
State media showed Putin casting his ballot online from self-isolation, several days into quarantine after coming into contact with Covid-19.
As voting began, the opposition said a "Smart Voting" app advising supporters on how to vote out Kremlin allies had been removed from the app stores of both Apple and Google.
"They caved in to the Kremlin's blackmail," Leonid Volkov, an exiled aide to Navalny, said on Telegram, after Moscow accused the US tech giants of election interference and demanded they remove the app.
Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov accused the companies of a "shameful act of political censorship", posting a screenshot on Twitter of an email from Apple saying the app was removed because Navalny's organisation has been declared "extremist".
He said the US companies were making a "huge mistake."
Sources familiar with Google and Apple's decision said the move was taken under pressure from Russian authorities, including threats to arrest local staff of the tech giant.
One source said Apple employees faced mounting "bullying tactics and threats to arrest" at the start of the vote, while another noted Google had acted under "extraordinary duress".
The Kremlin welcomed the move, saying the tech giants had conformed with "the letter and spirit" of Russian law.
Falling living standards
The app instructed Russians on how to vote strategically to try to defeat politicians from Putin's United Russia party, after candidates critical of the Kremlin were largely barred from running in the vote.
In power for two decades, Putin's tenure has seen tightening controls over the Russian segment of the internet.
The election for seats in the lower house State Duma, which runs until Sunday, comes after a year that has seen Navalny jailed, many allies arrested and his organisations banned.
Putin, who turns 69 next month, said ahead of the vote he was counting on voters to make "responsible, balanced and patriotic" decisions.
While he remains broadly well-liked, United Russia has seen its popularity drop as living standards decline in a pandemic-induced economic slump.
Russia has also struggled to contain the coronavirus, with even Putin in isolation this week after a major outbreak at the Kremlin.
Zhdanov said on Twitter his team was considering suing Apple and Google, but for now was focusing on other ways of getting the list out.
He posted links to Google Docs with recommended candidates and Navalny's team released a video on YouTube showing the names.
With the vote being held over three days, limited election observing and the option of voting electronically, critics say there will be few checks on the Kremlin party's performance.
In Moscow, some voters waited hours to vote, with long queues forming outside central polling stations.
'Competition is needed'
Some young voters in the capital told AFP they hoped new faces would be able to join the Duma.
"I think it's the right moment for decent people to win," said Sofia Makarova, a 22-year-old barista.
Sergei Ryzhov, a construction worker, said that while the majority of Russians would vote for United Russia, "competition is needed".
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe -- which often monitors elections across the ex-Soviet Union -- said last month it would not be sending observers because of a limit on numbers imposed by Moscow.
Russian social media on Friday was filled with reports of ballot stuffing as well as polling stations filled with army servicemen.
Besides United Russia, 13 more parties are running in the elections. Of the Duma's 450 members, 225 are elected through party lists and the rest through single-member districts.
Ukraine meanwhile announced sanctions against persons involved in organising voting in the Crimea region annexed by Moscow and in the pro-Russian separatist east of the country, with Kiev dubbing the vote in those areas a "farce".
"Russia does not have the right to organise elections in these territories," declared Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's national security council, additionally warning foreign observers they too faced sanctions if they participated in "this farce".
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had on Thursday said holding the vote in the disputed regions constituted a "violation of international rights".
(AFP)
Critics warn of Apple, Google 'chokepoint' repression
Issued on: 18/09/2021
Issued on: 18/09/2021
Google and Apple were under the microscope over their decision to pull a Russian opposition app
Emmanuel DUNAND, Loic VENANCE AFP/File
Washington (AFP)
The global dominance of tech giants serves as a convenient online chokepoint for authoritarian governments to crack down on dissent or rig elections, critics of Apple and Google said Friday.
The companies were facing international outrage after pulling a Russian opposition voting app off their online marketplaces in response to authorities' escalating pressure, including arrest threats.
Google and Apple, whose operating systems run on 99 percent of the world's smartphones, have a stranglehold on the markets for the applications that allow users to do everything from watch movies to hail a ride.
"The app stores are the new frontier for censorship," Natalia Krapiva, tech legal counsel at rights group Access Now told AFP. "We're witnessing a new stage of assault on digital rights."
The companies face a growing pile of new legislation, legal trouble and regulators scrutiny over worries their dominance is a competition-killing monopoly.
Concerns recently had been about consumers' choice and app developers ability to avoid paying Apple an up to 30 percent cut on purchases made via its App Store.
But after an app advising opposition supporters on how to vote out Kremlin allies in Russia's parliamentary election was removed from the app stores of both Apple and Google, advocates warned of another threat.
"As long as Apple maintains a stranglehold over what software millions of people (use)... the App Store will continue to be a convenient chokepoint for government censorship and crackdowns on dissent," said Evan Greer, director of digital advocacy group Fight for the Future.
The digital world has been an incubator for opposition from the Arab Spring to Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests by giving people a way to communicate and organize movements rapidly.
Yet that same technology can be turned against people, as was demonstrated by the scandal around Pegasus, a hugely invasive spyware that can essentially turn a phone into a pocket listening device.
- Limits of Big Tech -
Allegations that the software has been used by governments worldwide to eavesdrop on human rights activists, business executives and politicians sparked a global uproar in July.
In the case of Russia, pressure has been building after Moscow accused the US tech giants of election interference and demanded they remove the app.
"This demonstrates the limits of Big Tech to resist crackdowns with regards to dissent, in Russia and elsewhere, during elections and outside them," said David Levine, an election integrity fellow at think tank Alliance for Securing Democracy.
Sources close to the decision to pull the opposition app said both companies faced threats of criminal charges or the jailing of staff and general "bullying" from authorities.
Levine noted this type of escalating pressure could become a "page in the playbook" for repressive governments.
The firms are for-profit, yet because of their global reach and key role in mass communication, can end up being called on to combat hate, lies and repression on their devices or platforms.
As a result, Big Tech can and will get entangled in these type of fights on delicate matters with the governments of places where they do business.
"Giant IT companies are going to have to think about how they operate in these markets, like how far they'll go in terms of complying and cutting off the freedom of people to see things," said Kathryn Stoner, a Stanford political science professor.
Especially for social media companies like Facebook, the role of information gatekeeper is one that the firms have played with widely varying outcomes.
The case in Russia, though, has resonated in particular because it touches on something deeply personal, which also has tremendous consequences.
"This is the government going into your house and saying you cannot talk about voting against us," Isabel Linzer, a Research analyst at NGO Freedom House, said.
"That is as much election interference as it would be to go and stuff a ballot box," she added.
© 2021 AFP
Washington (AFP)
The global dominance of tech giants serves as a convenient online chokepoint for authoritarian governments to crack down on dissent or rig elections, critics of Apple and Google said Friday.
The companies were facing international outrage after pulling a Russian opposition voting app off their online marketplaces in response to authorities' escalating pressure, including arrest threats.
Google and Apple, whose operating systems run on 99 percent of the world's smartphones, have a stranglehold on the markets for the applications that allow users to do everything from watch movies to hail a ride.
"The app stores are the new frontier for censorship," Natalia Krapiva, tech legal counsel at rights group Access Now told AFP. "We're witnessing a new stage of assault on digital rights."
The companies face a growing pile of new legislation, legal trouble and regulators scrutiny over worries their dominance is a competition-killing monopoly.
Concerns recently had been about consumers' choice and app developers ability to avoid paying Apple an up to 30 percent cut on purchases made via its App Store.
But after an app advising opposition supporters on how to vote out Kremlin allies in Russia's parliamentary election was removed from the app stores of both Apple and Google, advocates warned of another threat.
"As long as Apple maintains a stranglehold over what software millions of people (use)... the App Store will continue to be a convenient chokepoint for government censorship and crackdowns on dissent," said Evan Greer, director of digital advocacy group Fight for the Future.
The digital world has been an incubator for opposition from the Arab Spring to Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests by giving people a way to communicate and organize movements rapidly.
Yet that same technology can be turned against people, as was demonstrated by the scandal around Pegasus, a hugely invasive spyware that can essentially turn a phone into a pocket listening device.
- Limits of Big Tech -
Allegations that the software has been used by governments worldwide to eavesdrop on human rights activists, business executives and politicians sparked a global uproar in July.
In the case of Russia, pressure has been building after Moscow accused the US tech giants of election interference and demanded they remove the app.
"This demonstrates the limits of Big Tech to resist crackdowns with regards to dissent, in Russia and elsewhere, during elections and outside them," said David Levine, an election integrity fellow at think tank Alliance for Securing Democracy.
Sources close to the decision to pull the opposition app said both companies faced threats of criminal charges or the jailing of staff and general "bullying" from authorities.
Levine noted this type of escalating pressure could become a "page in the playbook" for repressive governments.
The firms are for-profit, yet because of their global reach and key role in mass communication, can end up being called on to combat hate, lies and repression on their devices or platforms.
As a result, Big Tech can and will get entangled in these type of fights on delicate matters with the governments of places where they do business.
"Giant IT companies are going to have to think about how they operate in these markets, like how far they'll go in terms of complying and cutting off the freedom of people to see things," said Kathryn Stoner, a Stanford political science professor.
Especially for social media companies like Facebook, the role of information gatekeeper is one that the firms have played with widely varying outcomes.
The case in Russia, though, has resonated in particular because it touches on something deeply personal, which also has tremendous consequences.
"This is the government going into your house and saying you cannot talk about voting against us," Isabel Linzer, a Research analyst at NGO Freedom House, said.
"That is as much election interference as it would be to go and stuff a ballot box," she added.
© 2021 AFP
Due to to the nursing shortfall, some facilities have had to slash their bed capacity Maria TAN AFP
