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Apple Fined £390K for Sanctions Violation Linked to Russian Streaming Service
Apple Fined £390K for Sanctions Violation Linked to Russian Streaming Service
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BTCCSquare news:
Apple Distribution International, an Irish subsidiary of the tech giant, faces a £390,000 penalty for processing payments to Okko, a Russian video streaming platform tied to UK-sanctioned entities. The transactions, totaling £635,000, occurred in mid-2022 after Okko's parent company Sberbank—and later its acquirer JSC New Opportunities—were blacklisted following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The case marks the first enforcement under the UK's accelerated sanctions review regime. While Apple's payment model typically remits user purchases to developers after deducting fees, the timing suggests at least one transaction may have involved pre-war subscriptions. Analysts speculate Okko's ownership transfer aimed to evade Western restrictions.
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