Apple Maps, Weather app now shows Crimea as Russian territory

Posted:
in General Discussion edited November 2019
Following months of pressure from Moscow, Apple recently updated its Apple Maps and Weather apps to display Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia, inviting swift condemnation from Ukrainian politicians.

Crimea
Source: BBC News correspondent Will Vernon via Twitter


Russia's lower parliamentary house, the State Duma, confirmed the change in a statement on Wednesday, reports BBC News.

"Crimea and Sevastopol now appear on Apple devices as Russian territory," the terse statement reads.

Crimea, which was annexed by the Russians in a not-so-covert land grab involving military units in 2014, shows up as Russian territory only when viewing Apple Maps and Weather in Russia. Elsewhere, the peninsula is not attributed to any one nation.

Moscow has for months urged Apple and other technology companies to recognize the region as Russian territory, noting that failure to do so runs counter to Russian law. It was this argument that ultimately swayed Apple's thinking on the matter, according to chairman of the Duma security and anti-corruption committee Vasily Piskaryov.

Apple's Russia representative Daria Ermolina met with Russian legislators to verify the company's "inaccuracies" were corrected, the Duma said on Wednesday.

"There is no going back," Piskaryov said, as reported by the Interfax news agency. "Today, with Apple, the situation is closed - we have received everything we wanted."

Ukrainian foreign minister Vadym Prystaiko voiced his displeasure of Apple's decision in a tweet Wednesday.

"IPhones are great products. Seriously, though, @Apple, please, please, stick to high-tech and entertainment. Global politics is not your strong side. #CrimeaIsUkraine," the tweet reads.

Governments around the world decried Russia's aggressive move into Crimea. Political unrest in the region -- a situation many believe was fomented by Russia -- opened the door to an unofficial invasion on a sovereign nation that left thousands dead. Moscow denies the assertions, though it does admit "volunteers" assisted rebel forces in an ensuing separatist movement against Ukraine.

The U.S. and UK both leveled trade sanctions against Russian entities in 2014. As a result, Apple was forced to terminate developer agreements of coders living in Crimea.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 100
    Apple-Russia collusion?
    razorpitbluefire1williamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 100
    It shows as Russian territory in the US as well. There is a border shown between Crimea and Ukraine, but not between Crimea and Russia. Disgusting.
    cat52seanjwilliamlondonpropod1983PezanewBelieveruraharamrakoplasdoozydozen
  • Reply 3 of 100
    It would probably just annoy them, but it is possible to click somewhere on the map inside Crimea and chose the “Report an issue” option, where you can leave a comment such as “Crimea is not part of Russia.”
    mac_dogspliff monkeychiastevenoztyler82williamlondonpropod1983CarnageEsquireCats
  • Reply 4 of 100
    Seriously?
    williamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 100
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    I've read China has the same issues so I could see Apple, and other mapping companies, creating an outlined area for areas under dispute. Of course, that might make a whole lot of areas outlined but it would be better than taking sides. Of course, there should be an authoritative source for country boundaries. Is it the United Nations or does one even exist?

    It's also not fair to make the mapping companies the bad guys. They are only trying to present information that someone says is valid. 
    bigpicsmdriftmeyeruraharaGeorgeBMacdoozydozen
  • Reply 6 of 100
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    rob53 said:
    I've read China has the same issues so I could see Apple, and other mapping companies, creating an outlined area for areas under dispute. Of course, that might make a whole lot of areas outlined but it would be better than taking sides. Of course, there should be an authoritative source for country boundaries. Is it the United Nations or does one even exist?

    It's also not fair to make the mapping companies the bad guys. They are only trying to present information that someone says is valid. 
    What you said. I hope Apple is reading this.
    razorpit
  • Reply 7 of 100
    Never would have guessed that I’d go from long term Apple fanboy to phasing out Apple products due to them sucking up to China and Russia. Crazy times. 
    cat52spliff monkeycanukstormdonjuanrazorpitbluefire1seanjwilliamlondonpropodsailorpaul
  • Reply 8 of 100
    bonobob said:
    It shows as Russian territory in the US as well. There is a border shown between Crimea and Ukraine, but not between Crimea and Russia. Disgusting.
    That's an oblast border, not a country border. Look at the border with Moldova, it's a different style (dash dash dot versus dash dot dash).
    baconstangrazorpituraharadoozydozencaladanianjony0
  • Reply 9 of 100
    rob53 said:
    I've read China has the same issues so I could see Apple, and other mapping companies, creating an outlined area for areas under dispute. Of course, that might make a whole lot of areas outlined but it would be better than taking sides. Of course, there should be an authoritative source for country boundaries. Is it the United Nations or does one even exist?

    It's also not fair to make the mapping companies the bad guys. They are only trying to present information that someone says is valid. 
    Also agree.  Borders should be shown as recognized by the UN, or the majority of member nations (not sure how that works here either).

    Slippery slope if map "corrections" can be pressured into existence.
    spliff monkeycanukstormchiamdriftmeyerrazorpitbluefire1minicoffeeseanjnewBelieverurahara
  • Reply 10 of 100
    mknelsonmknelson Posts: 1,119member
    bonobob said:
    It shows as Russian territory in the US as well. There is a border shown between Crimea and Ukraine, but not between Crimea and Russia. Disgusting.
    That's an oblast border, not a country border. Look at the border with Moldova, it's a different style (dash dash dot versus dash dot dash).
    Yes, good catch. It matches the other internal borders within the Ukraine.

    You also see that with Israel/Gaza/West Bank/Golan, etc.

    Google Maps show much the same.
    baconstangRayz2016uraharajony0
  • Reply 11 of 100
    rob53 said:
    I've read China has the same issues so I could see Apple, and other mapping companies, creating an outlined area for areas under dispute. Of course, that might make a whole lot of areas outlined but it would be better than taking sides. Of course, there should be an authoritative source for country boundaries. Is it the United Nations or does one even exist?

    It's also not fair to make the mapping companies the bad guys. They are only trying to present information that someone says is valid. 
    Also agree.  Borders should be shown as recognized by the UN, or the majority of member nations (not sure how that works here either).

    Slippery slope if map "corrections" can be pressured into existence.
    Something as serious as borders defined this strictly would probably just be for the UN security council to deal with; which would leave both Russia and China with the power to veto any form of not "respecting" their chosen borders.
    cat52
  • Reply 12 of 100
    Jesus Christ. I’ve owned Apple computers since they were beige. I’ve had enough. Legitimately done. 

    This is disgusting. What a topper to Kowtowing to China and fucking over Hong Kong protesters. 

    I think this is the proverbial straw for me.  
    svanstromcanukstormrazorpiturahararcfaMgwlchemengin1
  • Reply 13 of 100
    If only Reagan would have had the guts to take their nukes when we had our chance in the 80s.

    Russia would just be another small economy criminal East European state, instead of a small economy criminal East European state with nukes. 
    razorpit1983
  • Reply 14 of 100
    Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
    beowulfschmidt
  • Reply 15 of 100
    davendaven Posts: 696member
    I typed in Simferopol on maps on my iPhone and it just takes me to Simferopol without ousting any country. When I have maps take me to the location it takes me to Simferopol, Crimea without showing a country. 
    uraharadoozydozen
  • Reply 16 of 100
    svanstrom said:
    Never would have guessed that I’d go from long term Apple fanboy to phasing out Apple products due to them sucking up to China and Russia. Crazy times. 

     spliff monkey said:
    Jesus Christ. I’ve owned Apple computers since they were beige. I’ve had enough. Legitimately done. 

    This is disgusting. What a topper to Kowtowing to China and fucking over Hong Kong protesters. 

    I think this is the proverbial straw for me.  
    Hope you aren’t planning to switching to Google — they did the same thing:

    https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/27/apple-and-google-maps-accommodate-russias-annexation-of-crimea/

    ...because that’s the law in Russia, and they’re required to follow the law in the countries they do business in. Only other option is to pull out of Russia. Perhaps worth it, I don’t know. I’d love for them to give Putin the finger and exit Russia. But it’s silly to say Apple shouldn’t follow the law they’re currently compelled to follow if they wish to operate in Russia. 
    edited November 2019 fastasleepAbove_The_GodsmdriftmeyerlostkiwiRayz2016netroxPezaCarnageuraharadedgecko
  • Reply 17 of 100
    Damned if you do, damned if you don't...
    That makes it sound like the two options are equal in all things, and that there's nothing to do; but we're talking about Apple choosing profits by sucking up to regimes that have people killed just because their views are inconvenient, or because they are religious or not heterosexual.

    China and Russia will just continue doing what they are doing if there are no negative consequences, and Apple will apparently just keep picking profits over people if there are no negative consequences to them. So our only option is to make things inconvenient until those in power, political or business, have to start valuing human rights. Just like what was done when companies like Apple kept ignoring how the workers at the factories were treated; people made it inconvenient, and bad for business, for them to keep ignoring that.
    razorpitpropod
  • Reply 18 of 100
    svanstrom said:
    Never would have guessed that I’d go from long term Apple fanboy to phasing out Apple products due to them sucking up to China and Russia. Crazy times. 

     spliff monkey said:
    Jesus Christ. I’ve owned Apple computers since they were beige. I’ve had enough. Legitimately done. 

    This is disgusting. What a topper to Kowtowing to China and fucking over Hong Kong protesters. 

    I think this is the proverbial straw for me.  
    Hope you aren’t planning to switching to Google — they did the same thing:

    https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/27/apple-and-google-maps-accommodate-russias-annexation-of-crimea/

    ...because that’s the law in Russia, and they’re required to follow the law in the countries they do business in. Only other option is to pull out of Russia. Perhaps worth it, I don’t know. I’d love for them to give Putin the finger and exit Russia. But it’s silly to say Apple shouldn’t follow the law they’re currently compelled to follow if they wish to operate in Russia. 
    Well, let me just invoke Godwin's law here as an example of how just obeying the law isn't always the right thing to do.
    williamlondonrcfapropodspliff monkeybeowulfschmidt
  • Reply 19 of 100
    So long as it does not show the U.S. as part of Russia territory I am ok with it.
    Above_The_Gods1983CarnageGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 20 of 100
    Apple shouldn’t do business in Russia at all if it means deceiving/misleading users of Maps in the rest of the world. Crimea should be clearly labeled as “occupied territory” or something of that nature. Russia’s economy is so small (the size of Italy’s) and wealth is so concentrated (because of corruption) that a relatively small number of iPhones is sold there, anyway. If anyone deserves having Android forced on them, it’s Putin and his fellow oligarchs.
    razorpitrcfa
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