After last week’s announcement that it would halt its product sales in Russia, Apple has now informed its developer community that it’s suspending its Apple Search Ads service on the App Store in Russia. According to an email shared with developers, Apple Search Ads ads — which allow developers to run advertising campaigns on the App Store — have now been placed on hold in Russia “until further notice.”
The email also noted no new Search Ads campaigns will be eligible to run on the App Store in Russia for the duration of the suspension.
Bloomberg first reported the news of the Search Ads suspension following tweets from developers and others in the larger mobile app community who shared the news on Twitter.
Apple has suspended all search ads on the Russian app store. pic.twitter.com/gUGvPsdRsz
— James Thomson (@jamesthomson) March 7, 2022
FYI pic.twitter.com/BSCfWsWGJA
— Ariel (@arielmichaeli) March 7, 2022
Developers said they received the email at the email address they had used to sign up for Search Ads with in the past. However, the emails are not only being directed to App Store developers based in Russia or to those with active Search Ads campaigns in the country — other developers in global markets received the email, as well, even if they weren’t running campaigns in the region.
Apple is not commenting on the matter. But TechCrunch confirmed the email (seen above) is legitimate.
The move to pause the Search Ads business in Russia follows Apple’s recent decision to pause all product sales in the country, limit Apple Pay, and remove the Russian state-owned media apps RT News and Sputnik News from the App Store in all markets outside Russia. The company additionally disabled both traffic and live incidents in Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety measure.
Apple had made the announcement after Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov penned an open letter to CEO Tim Cook which asked Apple to stop supplying Apple services and products to Russia. The letter additionally asked Cook to block access to the App Store, which Apple has not yet done. However, by suspending the Search Ads business in Russia, Apple is taking another step to further isolate Russia and step away from doing business in the country.
