Russian media reported that the GitHub accounts of some Russian developers were disabled without warning because the companies they worked for or worked for were sanctioned by the United States.
The wave of bans, which began on April 13, did not distinguish between companies and individuals; at least dozens of accounts have been blocked, including those of Russian bank Sberbank, the country's largest private bank Alfa-Bank and some other companies, and An account of an individual individual developer. The GitHub accounts of Sberbank and Alfa Bank, which were initially disabled, have been completely removed from the platform.
When a personal GitHub account is blocked, it is marked as suspended. When a company account is blocked, the situation is as follows:
If a company account is blocked, access to repository data may be retained for several hours. If an individual account is blocked, access is immediately restricted. The content of deactivated personal accounts is wiped andall repositories immediately become inaccessible, including issues and PRs.
Some Russian developers contacted GitHub and received an email titled "GitHub and Trade Controls," explaining that their accounts were disabled due to U.S. sanctions.
The email included a link to a GitHub page explaining the company's policy on sanctions and trade controls, which explained how users could appeal the blocking of their accounts. This appeal form requires individuals to certify that they are not using their GitHub account on behalf of the sanctioned entity.
GitHub, on the other hand, said in a March blog post about the Russia-Ukraine conflict that its vision was to be home to all developers, including those in Russia, and made it clear that it had no plans for a mass ban. "As we work to ensure that GitHub is available to developers in all countries, we continue to ensure that the free open source service is available to everyone, including developers in Russia."
Foreign media Bleeping Computer reached out to GitHub and asked it to comment on the account suspension. A spokesperson for the platform responded as follows:
Like any company doing business in the U.S., GitHub may have to restrict users and customers identified as Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) or others who have been denied or blocked under U.S. and other applicable sanctions laws, or may be used on behalf of blocked parties GitHub.
At the same time, GitHub's vision is to be a platform for global developers to collaborate, no matter where they live. We thoroughly review government sanctions to ensure users and customers are not impacted beyond what is required by law. - GitHub
According to this, deactivated private accounts were either associated with, cooperated with, or worked for the sanctioned entity. However, even those who previously worked for sanctioned companies appear to be wrongly blocked. This means that Russian users may suddenly find their projects wiped and accounts suspended, even if they have nothing to do with the sanctioned entity.