A Russian company that installed a giant iPhone statue in memory of Steve Jobs in the courtyard of an IT university in St Petersburg has reportedly taken it down after it was revealed that the new head of the tech company, Tim Cook, is gay.
A statement released by Western European Financial Union (ZEFS) accused the new Apple CEO of "promoting homosexuality," reported the BBC. It said that the statue could violate a recent Russian ruling that banned "the advocacy of lifestyles contrary to traditional family values among minors."
The 2m-tall installation allowed users to learn about the life of Jobs, who died in 2011.
Alleging that the US security services can use Apple to monitor private communications worldwide, ZEFS founder Maxim Dolgopolov said in the statement that if the statue was reinstalled, it would allow the passers-by, who use the interactive feature on the installation, to send a direct message to the US National Security Agency and Apple HQ. He added that they refuse to use technology that spies on its subscribers.
However, the National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, where the statue stood, said that the ZEFS had contacted them before Cook made the announcement and said that the iPhone installation was being taken down to carry out repairs.
