Washington Post: “Russia’s Internet censor threatened Thursday to fine Google and Apple if they don’t remove an app built by opposition leaders that encourages voters to cast ballots against the party of President Vladimir Putin, saying the companies are interfering in the nation’s electoral processes. The move follows weeks of private demands by the censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, to both companies, ahead of legislative elections that begin Sept. 17. Neither company has removed the app, the latest skirmish in an increasingly intense battle over the availability of potent technological tools – most of them American-made – for political organizing in Russia.”
“Russian advocates of Internet freedom denounced the move. ‘The authorities’ demand to remove the app from AppStore and Google Play Store is more evidence of the current scorched earth policy to kill any opposition thought, word, movement or competition. It is clear that it is illegitimate, unauthorized, anti-constitutional,’ said Artyom Koslyuk of the group Roskomsvoboda. ‘The authorities believe that the Smart Voting site is a threat to security.'”