alt Hacker NewsSome more context from the linked github issue[0], the app was removed because of European sanctions against Russia, it seems that the app developer who now lives in Malta, has a Russian background.
What is interesting is that it's Apple enforcing these sanctions, rather than AltStore.
The amount of control that Apple exercises over these alternative app stores, really does seem to be against the spirit of the DMA.
[0]: https://github.com/XITRIX/iTorrent/issues/401#issuecomment-3...
Replies
> European sanctions against Russia
last time I checked if there are no sanctions against you personally you shouldn't have any troubles?
I believe sancitons lists are public so that has to be verifiable by searching for "Daniil Vinogradov". Quick search on EU sanctions tracker [0] did not yield any results. Neither did [1]. So what's up with that?
That statement cannot be taken at face value. Russian developers and Russian registered entities are freely publishing apps on App Store. EU sanctions do not prevent that.
Lots of Russian apps and services registered in Malta or Cyprus, but their devs continue to live in Russia. And naive users think they’re using a European app or service. For example Adguard.
> What is interesting is that it's Apple enforcing these sanctions, rather than AltStore.
That's quite a red flag. Apple demonstrated that despite their seemingly compliance with the EU DMA, they are still indirectly in control of ALL digital markets.
This is still an uneven playing field, and I hope the EU is not blinded by this "feature demonstration" of Apple now...
There is a lack of proof that the developer is linked to a sanctioned entity. Not saying it isn't, but The Verge should be at least trying to verify that IMHO (instead of taking the statement at face value); I'd even trust a "we verified it but won't publish to protect the developer".
Indeed, I thought the whole point of alternative app stores is that it’s not Apple’s decision any more whether an app can be installed or not. This looks like another case of malicious compliance.
That’s also weird to me. I don’t have current 2025 info on the sanctions, but back in early 2022 I had a colleague with Russian citizenship who was living in Ireland (with proper permission to live and work - I think even permanent residence). He was exempted from the nationality-based sanctions because of his EU residence, although he did have to prove it to e.g. his banks.
Do the sanctions applicable in 2025 apply even to EU residents of Russian nationality or origin without such an exemption, or is this person covered by more narrow sanctions like one which name him individually, or is Apple going beyond the sanctions rules here for a store they don’t even operate?
Edit: reading the linked GitHub discussion more closely, it seems that he expects to benefit from the same exemption as I was describing, with the problem being twofold: one, the developer had neglected to update his personal info in Apple’s dev portal - not Apple’s fault, at least assuming that sanctions enforcement is their job at all in this scenario. But two, Apple has taken a long time to react to this guy providing proof of his Maltese residence, so that’s on them for being an unresponsive bottleneck.