Russian developers , who work or previously worked for sanctioned companies, have noticed that their GitHub accounts have been suspended without warning.
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According to Russian media, the account suspensions began on April 13 and did not discriminate between companies and individuals.
The GitHub accounts of Sberbank Technology, Sberbank AI Lab , and Alfa Bank Laboratoryinitially saw their code repositories disabled and have now been removed from the platform.
Considering that these companies were sanctioned by the US Treasury Department last week and that Microsoft owns GitHub, this action is not surprising.
However, the suspension of the private accounts of dozens of individuals who do not host content linked to sanctioned entities is somewhat unexpected.
Suspended personal accounts on GitHub have their content deleted and all repositories become immediately inaccessible, as well as issues and pull requests.
Habr.com reports that some Russian developers contacted GitHub about the suspension and received an email titled "GitHub and Trade Controls" explaining that their account was disabled due to US sanctions.
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This email contains a link to a GitHub page explaining the company's policies on sanctions and trade controls, which explains how a user can appeal their suspension.
This appeal form requires the individual to certify that they are not using account on behalf of a sanctioned entity.
A developer posted on Twitter saying that he could remove the suspension after filling out the form and that it was due to sanctions at his previous employer.
GitHub has previously stated that its vision is to be the home for all developers, including those residing in Russia, making it clear that it is not planning mass bans.
“In parallel with our efforts to ensure that GitHub is available to developers in all countries, we continue to ensure that free services are available to everyone, including developers in Russia,” the platform said in a blog post published last March.
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Although a lot has happened since then, there has been no update regarding these policies on the GitHub blog, so we can only assume that their stance on the matter remains the same.
