Mobile developers from Belarus have started receiving messages about deactivation of accounts in the App Store. The official reason is US sanctions against the subject. UPDATED: The next morning Apple started to unlock everything back, writes that error.
The text of the messages, if translated into Russian, sounds like this:
Dear (developer’s name),We found a problem when verifying your account.
The information about the legal entity associated with your account fully corresponds to the entity (one or more) that is subject to restrictions in the United States, or it is on other government sanctions lists, or on the list of prohibited countries.For more information, please contact us at sanctions.info@apple.com .
Sincerely,
The App Store Team
As reported by dev.
by, notifications are received by both publishing companies and private developers from Belarus.
In conversation with App2Top.ru Two representatives of the Belarusian gaming industry also confirmed receipt of the letters.
According to Belarusian media, messages about account deactivation come even to those iOS developers who have re-registered them to legal addresses in other countries.
For reference, the United States has recently officially imposed visa sanctions against a number of Belarusian citizens. These actions “are aimed at many citizens of Belarus for involvement in serious extraterritorial activities against dissidents.”
It is possible that Apple representatives did not try to figure out who supports the opposition in the country and who does not, but introduced fan repressions against Belarusian IT companies still operating in the country.