Russian court fines Wikipedia again over Ukraine war article
A Russian court on Thursday fined Wikimedia Foundation, the owners of Wikipedia, the sum of two million rubles ( $24,510 ) for failing to delete what the court classified as “ banned content “ related to the Russian military, Interfax reported.
The report stated that this is the seventh fine imposed on Wikimedia in 2023, for not removing prohibited information. The fines now total 8.4 million rubles.
Wikimedia received the latest fine on Thursday for not removing an article about a military unit containing “classified military information” about its location, composition, and equipment, including information related to the progress of what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
Wikimedia previously stated that the information Russian authorities complained about was well-sourced and aligned with Wikipedia standards.
Since it invaded Ukraine last year, the Russian government initiated a state-sponsored crackdown on online content. Wikipedia is one of the few surviving independent sources of information left.
Maksut Shadaev, Russia’s digital affairs minister commented on the state-sponsored censorship efforts recently.
“We are not blocking Wikipedia yet, there are no such plans for now,” said Mr Shadaev.
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