Apple is blocking Telegram updates following Russian ban

Russia ordered a ban of the Telegram secure messaging app back in April, and the knock-on effects continue to cause issues for users outside of Russia. Following the messy block of 15.8 million IPs on Amazon and Google's cloud platforms, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says Apple has been blocking updates for the app globally. The lack of Telegram app updates mean some features, like stickers, aren't working correctly in the recently released iOS 11.4 update."Apple has been preventing Telegram from updating its iOS apps globally ever since the Russian authorities ordered Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store," explains Durov in a Telegram message. "While Russia makes up only 7 percent of Telegram's userbase, Apple is restricting updates for all Telegram users around the world since mid-April."

Apple's so-called love of privacy only extends to people in the west, and only matters as long as it's not too troublesome to the bottom-line. Apple has no qualms about handing over the data of Chinese Apple users to the Chinese government, and apparently, the company is all too eager to please the Russian government by selling out not only Russian Telegram users, but all Telegram users. It seems like Apple is just fine with undermining one of the primary tools with which dissidents in Russia communicate, because whatever, who cares about morals and principles, right?

Apple's privacy advocacy is a thin veneer designed to trick rich, comfy westerners into believing Apple actually cares about them. I can't believe it seems to be working, too.