Apple’s App Store has been unlawfully hosting dozens of apps tied to U.S.-sanctioned companies, according to The Washington Post.
The “watchdog” company The Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found that firms and organizations in Apple stores — and Google, as well — have been banned for issues including human rights abuses in China and facilitating war in Ukraine.
The non-profit advocacy group identified 52 apps in the App Store with direct connections to Russian, Chinese, and other companies that are under U.S. economic sanctions enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department. All of the apps listed a developer, seller, copyright holder, or other information on their App Store page that matched with a U.S.-sanctioned entity.
The investigation found that the Google Play Store had a similar problem, though at a lower level. Google’s app store hosted 18 apps connected to U.S.-sanctioned organizations, roughly a third of the number identified in the Apple App Store.
The TTP says that Apple and Google may be violating Treasury Department sanctions by simply hosting these apps. Because both companies charge a fee to app developers, they may also be engaging in financial transactions with sanctioned organizations in some cases.
“These findings raise questions about how thoroughly Apple and Google vet the apps in their app stores,” says the TTP. “Both companies say they comply with U.S. sanctions, and Apple says it hold apps to the ‘highest standards’ of security. But the apps identified by TTP showed obvious signs of their connection to sanctioned companies.
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Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
