Apple and Google Accused of Violating US Sanctions Against Russia and China 0 55

Experts from the organization stated that Apple and Google allowed at least 70 applications related to entities from the US Treasury's sanctions list to appear in the App Store and Google Play stores, respectively. These included Russian banks, various entities from China and Yemen, and other companies. According to the researchers, the American IT giants approved the publication of the applications after the related legal entities were placed on the sanctions list.

Of the 70 identified applications, 52 were found in the App Store and 18 in the Google repository. Six of these applications were discovered in both stores. The researchers emphasized that the associated organizations are on the prohibited SDN (Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List). For instance, TTP specialists found services from the bank "Ural FD," "Vietnam-Russia Joint Bank," "Dom.ru Bank," the Chinese company Chang Guang, and the International Bank of Yemen in the App Store. Applications related to the companies "Gazprom Neft" and "Gazprombank" were found in Google Play. It was noted that some programs had tens of thousands and even over a million downloads.

TTP emphasized that many applications were disguised, while others were posted under nearly the same names as the organizations banned in the US — their authors only added spaces, changed suffixes, or used abbreviations. Additionally, in seven applications, the developer information on their App Store page exactly matched the name of the organization added to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list.

After the disclosure of the TTP list, Apple removed the identified applications, and Google did the same. Both companies declined to comment on the situation; however, after some time, Google stated that they are "committed to complying with applicable sanctions and trade laws."

"Apple and Google may be violating US Treasury sanctions simply by hosting these applications," TTP stated. According to the specialists, both corporations are involved in financial operations of banned companies, as they charge fees from application developers.

The Tech Transparency Project describes itself as a "research initiative" of the non-profit organization Campaign for Accountability (CfA). The project was founded in 2016 under the name Google Transparency Project.

On December 10, it became known that the permanent representatives of the EU member states agreed to expand sanctions against Russia. A final decision will be made by the foreign ministers on December 15.