Update at 10:30am ET: Montreuil, France-based Ubisoft announced on Monday, March 7th that it is going to stop the sale of its products in Russia. The move from the South-Korean company comes soon after Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov requested Samsung to take action against Russia and condemn its unprovoked I urge you to take a step towards world peace! As long as Russian tanks and missiles bomb kindergartens and hospitals in Ukraine, your cool equipment cannot be used by Russians! /xjOInduclD Niantic’s games are no longer available for download in Russia and Belarus, and gameplay will also be suspended there shortly. We stand with the global community in hoping for peace and a rapid resolution to the violence and suffering in Ukraine. Niantic, the developer behind the 2016 Pokémon Go craze has announced that people in Russia and its ally Belarus would no longer be able to download Pokémon Go, Ingress, and Pikmin Bloom titles and those who have the games pre-installed would soon lose access. This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
Note: This story doesn’t mention any financial sanctions against Russia, and instead focuses solely on social media and big tech restrictions/limitations. And while the West can’t do much when it comes to taking action on foreign soil, several big tech and social media companies have joined forces and decided to limit, or completely cut off Russia from their services. The recent illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia has left the general population on both sides appalled.