“PUT KOSOVO ON APPLE MAPS” PETITION

By Rafaela Prifti

A petition demanding Apple Maps to separate the borders of Kosova from Serbia has been posted online since Friday. In addition to no border markings, there is no reference of Kosova on the application. Since the circulation of the petition began, it has collected tens of thousands of signatures. Under the title “Put Kosovo on Apple Maps”, the complaint reveals that Kosova’s international borders are not marked on the application and, its map shows the independent country of Kosova to be part of Serbia. Apple Maps is a web mapping service developed by the company and released seven years ago. The template of the petition states that Apple Maps makes no reference to the country of Kosova. Pointing at the facts, the complaint points out the historic facts such as Kosova’s official declaration of independence in 2008, and the US being one of the first countries to recognize Kosova. On Sunday Albanian pop star Dua Lipa shared a post on Instagram listing reasons “Why Kosovo is not and never will be Serbia”. The purpose of the petition is to ask Apple to make the correction and add Kosova to its list of countries.

Dielli has contacted the company for comment. At the time of the posting, no response was received.

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You may lodge a formal complaint or use the following link and the template message below: Apple Complaint URL

“Dear whom it may concern,

I’d like to inform you of a recent experience I encountered when using Apple Maps. When searching for the country of Kosovo, I was surprised and upset to find that there was no reference of it at all, which is highly offensive and factually incorrect as the Republic of Kosovo officially declared independence in 2008. Furthermore, the omission of Kosovo from the application was a surprise seeing as only recently was an announcement made to include Kosovo as an App Store region. In addition, my disappointment was fueled further seeing that Apple was founded in the USA, especially as the USA was one of the first countries to recognize Kosovo as an independent country, and the fact that the two countries still to this day have great relations.

My request is that you make the necessary changes to your application and add Kosovo to your list of countries so that you do not continue to offend an entire population.

I look forward to hearing from you.”