Apple and Microsoft reportedly added to Russia’s “organizers of information dissemination” registry

Russia’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, listed Apple and Microsoft as “organizers of information dissemination” on Oct. 2, according to 9to5Mac, citing Bloomberg. MacRumors also reported the designation, citing the same Bloomberg report.

The classification carries requirements to store local users’ correspondence, audio and video messages and provide them to Russian security services if asked, according to a Bloomberg passage reproduced by 9to5Mac. Companies must also keep information about users and the transmission of their communications in Russia for three years. That three-year provision concerns user and transmission information; the cited passage does not apply it to every message.