Russian man sues Apple ‘because iPhone app made him gay’

‘Now I have a boyfriend,’ complainant tells court. ‘And I do not know how to explain this to my parents’

The claim is said to have involved a cryptocurrency exchange on a third-party app (Getty)

A Russian man has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming an iPhone app turned him gay, it has been reported.

The claimant, named only as D Razumilov, has demanded one million rubles (£12,600) in compensation for moral harm and says he was “manipulated” into getting a boyfriend – who he is still with.

He says that he felt compelled to dabble with homosexuality after receiving an app payment in a cryptocurrency called GayCoin. “Don’t judge until you try,” a note that came with the money allegedly said.

“I thought, in truth, how can I judge something without trying?” the complainant wrote in his court submission. “I decided to try same-sex relationships.

“Now I have a boyfriend and I do not know how to explain this to my parents … My life has been changed for the worse and will never become normal again.

“Apple pushed me towards homosexuality through manipulation. The changes have caused me moral and mental harm.”

The suit was filed in Moscow on 20 September and the court will now hear the complaint on 17 October, the AFP news agency reported.

Asked if the case was genuine, lawyer Sapizhat Gusnieva insisted it was, saying her client was “scared” and had “suffered”.

She said the US technology giant “has a responsibility for their programmes” despite the alleged cryptocurrency exchange taking place on an unidentified third-party app.

Apple’s representatives in Russia have not responded to request for comment.

Homophobia is widespread in the country where reports of rights violations and attacks on LGBT+ people are common.

In 2013, Moscow introduced a law against so-called gay propaganda, which banned the “promotion of non-traditional lifestyles to minors”.