Google (GOOGL.O) and Apple (AAPL.O), both owned by Alphabet, have pulled jailed Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny’s tactical voting software from their stores, according to his team, after Russia accused the US tech titans of interfering in its internal affairs.
On Friday, Russians will vote in a three-day election to pick a new parliament, which the ruling United Russia party is likely to win despite a drop in popularity following the Kremlin’s harshest crackdown in years.
Allies of Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal domestic opponent, planned to use the app to organize a tactical voting operation against United Russia.
Russia asked that Apple and Google delete the app from their stores earlier this month, claiming that failure to do so would be considered meddling in the country’s legislative election.
Requests for comment from Apple and Google were not immediately returned. Russia announced on Thursday that it had made formal contacts with the CEOs of both firms. The removal, according to Ivan Zhdanov, a Navalny friend based abroad, amounted to political censorship.
