Microsoft kicks Russia Today off app store over ‘tragic’ invasion

Microsoft has removed Russia Today (RT) apps from its store, as it seeks to block Moscow spreading propaganda about its invasion of Ukraine.

It has also banned adverts from RT and Russia’s official news agency Sputnik, and ‘de-ranked’ their sites from results in its search engine Bing.

In its blog post (www. snipca.com/41153), Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith condemned the “tragic, unlawful and unjustified” invasion, and called for tech companies to take “decisive efforts” to prevent “statesponsored disinformation campaigns”.

Smith said that Microsoft detected “offensive and destructive” cyber-attacks on Ukraine’s digital infrastructure on 24 February, when the invasion began, and told the government in Kyiv immediately.

Since then Microsoft has provided “threat intelligence and defensive suggestions to

Ukrainian officials regarding attacks on a range of targets”.

Many other tech companies have offered support to Ukraine, and pulled their products from Russia. Google has suspended some live information from Google Maps, including traffic details and how busy places are, over fears that Russia could target crowded areas. It has also added information on refugee and migrant centres in neighbouring countries.

Spotify has closed its office in Russia “indefinitely”, and removed all content made by RT and Sputnik, while Netflix has “paused all future projects and acquisitions from Russia” as the company continues to assess the “impact” of the invasion.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has blocked RT and Sputnik in Europe, and warned that Russian hackers are sending friend requests to Ukrainian military and public figures.

Apple has stopped selling its products in Russia, saying it stands “with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence”.