Soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Microsoft stopped selling its products and services in the country. Other major companies have decided to take similar actions.
In order to follow some of Russia’s government sections, however, the company put on hold other forms of its business. Microsoft also announced that it will assist Ukraine and provide the country with cyber-security support. The purpose behind this action is to protect it against cyber-attacks possibly set up by Russia.
In a blog post, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, said:
“Since the war began, we have acted against Russian positioning, destructive or disruptive measures against more than 20 Ukrainian government, IT and financial sector organizations.”
He also shared that the company is constantly keeping in touch with its employees in Ukraine, giving its best to support them however it can.
Other tech companies have also made similar decisions. Some of them have already restrained Russia’s state-controlled media such as Sputnik or RT. For example, Microsoft has already removed RT’s mobile applications from the app store for Windows.
Microsoft is not the only one which restricts Russia.
Facebook, Google and Youtube impeded Russia’s state media in order to stop it from making money from ads on their platforms.
Also, companies such as Cisco, Oracle, Netflix and Spotify also took actions and withhold operations in Russia.
ll bookings in Russia and Belarus have been stopped by Airbnb. It is said that the company even offered free housing to 100,000 refugees.
In a tweet, Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said that even more tech restrictions for Russia are being expected.