Apple bans Russian users from watching its spring presentation amid Russia's invasion

In response to Moscow's unjustified invasion of Ukraine, American multinational electronics company Apple on Tuesday disabled Russian users from watching its spring presentation on the official website and on YouTube. This comes as the war between the two countries continues to escalate and entered its thirteenth day. Meanwhile, the delegations of Russia and Ukraine have also held three rounds of peace negotiations so far, but they have failed to produce the desired results. 

Earlier this month, Apple had announced to stop all its product sales in Russia. According to a statement by the iPhone maker, the company also decided to cease all shipments to Russia and restrict its payment service 'Apple Pay' for Russian citizens. "We have paused all product sales in Russia and also stopped all exports into our sales channel in the country. Apple Pay and other services have been limited too," the American tech giant said in a statement, as per Sputnik. 

Apple bans traffic & live incidents on Apple Maps inside Ukraine

As a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens, Apple has also restricted traffic and live incidents on Apple Maps inside Ukraine. As per the statement, the authorities have also decided to keep assessing the situation and are in contact with relevant governments on the steps they are taking. "We join all those around the world who are calling for peace," the statement added further. Last month, social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google banned the commercialization of Russian content on their platforms. In addition, YouTube has also disabled the streaming of Russian media outlet - RT News.

Russia-Ukraine war

It is worth mentioning here that Russia deployed over 150,000 troops on Ukraine's borders for weeks in a bid to pressurise Western nations to not allow Ukraine to join NATO, threatening an invasion. Last month on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a special military operation in Ukraine's Donbas region which subsequently turned into a full-fledged war and has been escalating for the last 13 days. Meanwhile, several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union, have strongly condemned Russia's unjustified actions and also imposed several sanctions on Moscow.  

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