Amazon will no longer accept new customers for its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing offering from Russia and Belarus.
The company announced the news in its “Amazon's assistance in Ukraine” blog, where it noted that besides effectively banning Russians and Belarusians from AWS, it has also stopped accepting new Amazon third-party sellers, as well.
Furthermore, Russian-based customers can no longer access the company's Prime Video, while orders for New World, “the only video game we sell directly in Russia”, have been suspended, indefinitely.
Tech giants respond
“As a reminder, unlike some other U.S. technology providers, Amazon and AWS have no data centers, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and we have a long-standing policy of not doing business with the Russian government,” the announcement reads.
Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, businesses - and especially tech service providers - have been pulling out from the country, in part for their own conviction, and in part due to the painful sanctions imposed by the West.
Amazon is just the next in a long line of tech companies that no longer do business in Russia, including IBM, Coinbase, Microsoft, PayPal, but also other major brands, like Visa, MasterCard, Coca Cola, and many, many others.
Besides tech companies, cybercriminals and hackers have retaliated against the invasion in the only way they can - by taking down and taking over digital tools and services still available in Russia.
Popular hacktivist group Anonymous used its skills to spread news and videos from Ukraine on Russia’s Netflix-like services. Recently, the group announced on Twitter that they’re spreading the news from Ukraine on Russian TV channels.
"The hacking collective Anonymous hacked into the Russian streaming services Wink and Ivi (like Netflix) and live TV channels Russia 24, Channel One, Moscow 24 to broadcast war footage from Ukraine [today]," the post states.
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