Major Russian social media apps removed from Google Play Store

MOSCOW, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The apps of Russian "super-app" and messaging platform MAX, along with those of its developer, social media company VKontakte (VK), have been removed from the Google Play Store, VK said in a statement on Thursday.

Following the removal, VK urged users to switch from the vk.com domain to vk.ru.

"All features, apps and the design of VKontakte on vk.ru remain the same. However, due to technical reasons, vk.ru is always accessible and also loads and works faster than vk.com," the company said.

In June, several VK apps, including MAX, were also removed from Apple's App Store, prompting strong criticism from the company and Russian authorities.

Google Play has also removed a few Russian apps, citing sanctions, including Kaspersky antivirus software and the official mobile apps of several Russian banks. Enditem