Ukraine war: Here's every tech service banned or suspended in Russia

As the Ukraine-Russia conflict continues to prolong beyond weeks, numerous governments have come together to impose economic sanctions on Russia. Alongside sanctions, global tech corporations have come together to impose their own restrictions in response to pleas for help from the Ukrainian government. Given a major global reliance on technologies, such moves are expected to make the lives of Russian citizens increasingly difficult in every sphere.

On this note, here’s taking a look at all technological services that have been withdrawn from or suspended in Russia – ever since the nation’s invasion of Ukraine began.

Apple: The American iPhone maker has announced that it has stopped selling its products in Russia until further announcements on the same. In terms of software measures, Apple has withdrawn support for Apple Pay in Russia, and has suspended state-controlled media outlets – RT and Sputnik – from its Apple News service. It has also stopped access for traffic and live incidents on Apple Maps in Ukraine, limiting how the service could be accessed by Russia in the country.

Google (Alphabet): The global internet services major has stopped all monetisation and advertisement features for Russian state-owned media outlets, thereby limiting their reach in a bid to prevent propaganda material from being broadly distributed. On YouTube, one of the biggest global video distribution networks, Russian state media – and independent accounts spreading Russian propaganda material – have also been suspended.

Social media platforms: Both Facebook (and its entire Meta Platforms group) and Twitter have announced that it is suspending distribution and monetisation of media material by Russian state media. Twitter has also applied labels circling posts made by Russian media outlets.

Netflix: The video streaming giant became one of the first entertainment tech platforms to withdraw all operations and services from Russia earlier today, March 7.

TikTok: Bytedance-owned TikTok is one of the few Chinese entities to have suspended its operations in Russia, after Chinese gaming majors such as Tencent remained silent on the situation. TikTok’s suspension came in light of Russia’s new content “laws”, which imposed imprisonment on anyone talking about the Russian conflict as an invasion – while in the country.

Payment services: Global payment network operators Mastercard and Visa have suspended numerous Russian operators on their networks from functioning. The moves have since broken numerous payment services in Russia, restricting the ability for tech services to accept payments in the country.

Gaming services: Multiple companies in the gaming space have suspended selling games or in-game content in Russia, including Microsoft, Nvidia, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and so on. On a hardware end, the likes of Intel and AMD have also suspended product sales in the country.

Others: Hospitality platform Airbnb has also suspended operations in Russia. Among automobile manufacturers, the Volkswagen Group – which operates brands such as Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini – has suspended production and exports to Russia. American car maker Ford and UK/India’s Jaguar-Land Rover have also suspended operations in Russia. Among aviation companies, both Boeing and Airbus have suspended services support and operations in Russia.