Apple stops selling products in Russia. Why that’s the wrong move.
Under tremendous pressure to “do something” about the Russia/Ukraine conflict, Apple has taken dramatic action.
Over the last several days, Russia invaded Ukraine and has been waging a war on that nation. The world is rightly appalled by this. Apple has been under tremendous pressure to take action against Russia. Last Friday, a Ukrainian official tweeted the following:
In addition, there have been many calls by members of the corporate press for Apple to take action as well.
Starting Monday, it seemed as if Apple had begun to act:
Tuesday Apple confirmed that it has in fact taken action against Russia. The following is a statement released by Apple:
We are deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stand with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence. We are supporting humanitarian efforts, providing aid for the unfolding refugee crisis, and doing all we can to support our teams in the region.
We have taken a number of actions in response to the invasion. We have paused all product sales in Russia. Last week, we stopped all exports into our sales channel in the country. Apple Pay and other services have been limited. RT News and Sputnik News are no longer available for download from the App Store outside Russia. And we have disabled both traffic and live incidents in Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens.
We will continue to evaluate the situation and are in communication with relevant governments on the actions we are taking. We join all those around the world who are calling for peace.
First of all, I certainly share the sentiment expressed by Apple in its first and last sentences. I’m deeply troubled by what’s being done to Ukraine, and I join with all who are advocating for peace. I also enthusiastically support Apple’s efforts to contribute to humanitarian work in the region. But I strongly oppose their decision to stop selling products in Russia as well as disabling services like Apple Pay.
I understand the urge to “do something,” but it’s not the Russian people who are responsible for the war in Ukraine. It’s the Russian government. If Apple wanted to simply prohibit sales to the Russian government, that would be one thing. But the party that will be hurt by its boycott of Russia are the Russian people. The war’s not going to end if Russian people can’t get home on the subway because they can’t use Apple Pay, but taking that action does inconvenience a lot of innocent people who are just trying to get to and from work so they can feed their families.
I also oppose banning RT and Sputnik outside of Russia. Are these vehicles for the Russian regime to spread propaganda? Undoubtedly. But adults are more than capable of making their own decisions about what media they consume. And given that you can access these outlets through Apple’s own web browser on Apple’s own devices, it’s not as if Apple is principally committed to removing the ability for these outlets to reach Apple users outside of Russia. It’s an empty symbolic gesture. It’s virtue signaling.
There’s also the very real threat that Apple’s actions serve to escalate tensions between the U.S. and Russian governments. No, Apple itself doesn’t have that much power, but when numerous American companies including Apple are all boycotting sales to Russia, the collective impact is likely to make diplomatic efforts more difficult.
We all deplore the actions the Russian government has undertaken against Ukraine, but Apple’s efforts are ultimately hurting innocent Russian citizens. My call to Apple? Serve your customers, regardless of the actions of their governments.