Men talk near a sign with the Apple logo and the inscription Express Service in Moscow, Russia, 12 May 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV

A Moscow court has handed Apple Rus, the US tech giant’s Russian subsidiary, multiple fines totalling 10.5 million rubles (€116,300), independent news outlet Mediazona reported from court on Monday.

The company was issued three separate fines of 2.5 million rubles (€27,700) each for spreading “LGBT propaganda”, Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported, adding that the charges were likely related to the rainbow design within the App Store.

State-owned news agency TASS reported that the court then slapped a fourth fine for 3 million rubles (€33,200) on Apple Rus later in the day, this time for failing to delete “illegal content” from its platforms, without specifying what that was.

At Apple’s request, the multiple hearings, none of which are thought to have lasted more than 10 minutes, were held behind closed doors, so the exact details of the case remain unknown, Mediazona said, though the charges are known to have been filed against the Ireland-based Apple Distribution International, responsible for Apple’s distribution outside the United States, and the main shareholder in Apple Rus.

Apple has previously faced criticism for submitting to Kremlin censorship after it quietly removed a number of independent media apps and VPN services from its Russian App Store as a means of avoiding a total block on Apple content in Russia in December.

Despite never defining the terms and leaving it open to interpretation, Russia imposed a complete ban on what it terms “LGBT propaganda” in November 2022. Prior to that, the law had only applied to the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors.