Apple has made the decision to remove sixty VPN apps from its App Store in China. Following the tightening of censorship laws in the country, Chinese internet users have increasingly been using VPNs to get around online blocks. Whilst not all VPNs have been removed, it marks a clear decision by the company to support the Chinese stance on censorship. Apple said that the apps that were removed contravened new regulations in the country. Golden Frog, the company that distributes VyprVPN, criticised the decision, saying that if “Apple views accessibility as a human right, we would hope Apple will likewise recognise internet access as a human right and would choose human rights over profits”. Meanwhile, the Russian government has passed a similar law that will ban VPNs there as well. The law will come into effect at the beginning of November, with the country's head of technology saying that it was not “targeted at law-abiding citizens”, instead calling it an anti-extremist law.Â
