Over the weekend, a video popped up on my YouTube recommended feed from a creator in Russia called NFKRZ (Roman Abalin) who was giving his take on the sanctions that were brought on by the invasion of Ukraine.
He said in his video that he was unable to withdraw any funds from crowdsourcing platforms like Patreon and payments facilitators like PayPal. Abalin likened the bank queues that he witnessed in St Petersburg to the pictures we all saw in O-Level history depicting life in the Soviet Union. The queue he was in, was for a bank called Tinkoff that was said to be offering USD ad EUR withdrawals but people were turned away after the establishment ran out of cash.
“We got screamed at by the guards, telling us that there is no money in the ATM and that we should leave immediately“
Being a creator and relying on a variety of income streams that are dwindling shows the effects of the sanctions on the people of Russia because of a decision made by their government. Alabin’s plight is probably not the worst case because there are people who are in far dire straits in Russia than he. This isn’t to excuse what the Russian government has done. There were going to be consequences for invading a sovereign nation.
The payments and financial sanctions aside, all of this made me curious about what other actions had been taken by tech companies as the Russian government invaded Ukraine.
The tech backlash to Putin’s war
Now, this list isn’t comprehensive because sanctions are coming in left right and centre as events unfold in Ukraine. However, what has been done is pretty substantial and from what I have seen online, measures have been targeting Russian government-affiliated media as well as access to payments and financial services
| Company | Action Taken |
| Apple | Pause product sales in Russia and limit access to Apple Pay in the country. State media apps (Sputnik and RT) were also restricted |
| Removed RT and other Russian state-funded media from monetisation through Google Ads as well as on YouTube | |
| Meta/Facebook | State media has been throttled and Facebook will continue to put a fact-checking label on their posts |
| Paused Russian state media channels’ ability to make money through ads on videos. | |
| TikTok | Restricted access to Russian state-controlled media accounts, including RT and Sputnik, in the EU. |
| The site banned users from posting links to Russian state-sponsored media outlets. | |
| Netflix | Refused to air Russian state TV channels like Channel One on its streaming service but will continue to operate in Russia. |
| TSMC | Halting chip sales to Russia, including Elbrus-branded chips designed in the country. |
| Intel | Sales stopped in Russia |
| AMD | Sales blocked in Russia |
| Dell | Suspended sales in Russia |
| Uber | Distancing itself from Russian ride-sharing service Yandex, and said it plans to speed up the sale of its shares in the service. |
| Microsoft | will remove Russian state-owned media apps from their Windows app store and not run ads on state-owned media websites. It is also suspending all new product sales in Russia, which include Xbox consoles. |
| PayPal | The online payments company has stopped accepting new users from Russia. It had previously blocked some users and some Russian banks. |
| Oracle | Suspended operations in Russia |
| SAP | Stopped sales of its products and services |
| Sony | Is not releasing its flagship PlayStation driving game, Gran Turismo 7, in Russia |
| Spotify | Closed its Russia office “indefinitely” and removed all content by RT and Sputnik in Europe and other regions. It has also restricted shows “owned or operated by Russian state media.” |
| Ericsson | Suspend its deliveries to Russia, according to an internal memo from the company’s CEO reviewed by Reuters. |
| Roku | Will ban Russia’s state-run news channel RT in Europe. |
| Snapchat | The social network said it will not display ads in Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine. The company also halted all ad sales in Russia and Belarus. |
| Electronic Arts | Removing the Russian national team and Russian club teams from the most recent FIFA games. It will also remove Russian and Belarusian national and club ice hockey teams from the latest NHL game |
| Bolt | Stopped operations in Belarus after Belarus supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Its delivery app, Bolt Market, removed “all products produced in Russia or associated with Russian companies.” |
| Nokia | The Finnish network equipment maker announced it will stop deliveries to Russia, in order to comply with sanctions imposed on the country |
The raft of sanctions and withdrawals from international companies shows just how interconnected the world has become. All-out war was going to be met by action from the rest of the world and the few examples listed above go to show the knock-on effect on the people of a nation who by some reports are not all in favour of the invasion of Ukraine.
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