Russian court fines Wikipedia for article about war in Ukraine again
A Moscow court has once again fined Wikipedia for a Russian-language article about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which it refused to remove.
Source: Russian state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti; Radio Svoboda
Details: As RIA Novosti noted, the justice of the peace of the judicial district of the Tagansky district of Moscow fined the Wikimedia Foundation 2 million rubles (about $24,600) for not removing fakes about the actions of the Russian army in Zaporizhzhia Oblast from Wikipedia.
This is already the sixth fine imposed on Wikimedia; the total amount of money charged has reached 11.8 million rubles (about $147,600). In April, the court will consider three more protocols regarding the fund.
It is the latest in a series of the Russian government’s steps to silence objective coverage or criticism of the war and limit the Russian public's access to information.
Background: In November 2022, Russia fined the American Wikimedia Foundation Inc., which manages Wikipedia, 2 million rubles for refusing to "remove fakes about a Russian special operation" ("special operation" in the Russian Federation is an official name for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine).
Wikimedia Foundation has appealed in a Russian court a fine of almost $90,000, which was issued to the Russian Wikipedia for an article about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and war crimes in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, and other cities.
At the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, on 2 March, Russian authorities warned Wikipedia that it would be blocked if the online encyclopaedia did not remove or correct an article about Russian armed aggression in Ukraine and the world's reaction. The Russian authorities appealed with the second warning to Wikipedia at the end of March, but assumed that everything could be fined in the amount of several million rubles.
In April, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) sent a reprimand to the Russian-language Wikipedia, saying that the truth about the invasion of Ukraine and the Russian president’s chauvinism in relations with the neighbouring country was written on the Internet encyclopaedia page about Putin.
At the end of May, Russia implemented a draft law that required large Internet resources owners to register their representative offices in Russia. The Wikimedia Foundation responded that the opening of the representative office would mean that Russian security forces would be able to monitor and punish Wikipedia for information that is not convenient for the Kremlin on its web pages.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it would be good to establish an alternative Russian Wikipedia that would be controlled by the Kremlin.
Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
