Russian court docket fines Wikipedia for article about Ukraine warfare

A Moscow court docket on Thursday once more fined Wikipedia for a Russian-language article it refused to take away about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the most recent in a collection of presidency strikes to silence goal reporting or criticism of the warfare and limit the Russian public’s entry to data.

The court docket fined Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the free, publicly-edited on-line encyclopedia, 2 million rubles ($24,464) for not eradicating a Wikipedia article titled “Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia region,” a reference to one in all 4 Ukrainian provinces that Russia annexed final September. Most international locations have condemned the annexation, in addition to that by Russia in 2014 of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, as unlawful.

The state Tass information company mentioned the Wikimedia Foundation had didn’t heed the calls for of Russia’s state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor to take away articles containing “false information.” Tass mentioned a Wikipedia consultant requested the court docket to reject the elimination demand as obscure.

President Vladimir Putin in recent times has elevated his crackdown on criticism and factual reporting that doesn’t correspond to his authorities’s views or variations of occasions. The crackdown has widened since his troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, focusing particularly on data and dissent in opposition to what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” within the neighboring nation.

Through Roskomnadzor, his authorities has additionally tried, with combined success, to technically restrict Western information studies that may be seen in Russia. The BBC and a few Voice of America websites are amongst these it has blocked however which Russians can entry utilizing digital non-public networks.

This will not be the primary time Wikipedia has been fined for refusing to delete “false” details about the warfare in Ukraine.

Last week, the identical Moscow court docket issued a advantageous of 800,000 rubles ($9,785) to the Wikimedia Foundation for not eradicating supplies linked to a track by a Russian rock band known as Psychea, which Russian authorities take into account to be extremist.

In November 2022, the group was fined 2 million rubles for refusing to delete “false” data in seven Wikipedia articles concerning the “special military operation,” together with details about atrocities in Bucha and the destruction of Mariupol’s theater.

Wikipedia didn’t reply instantly to a request for remark however says in its on-line encyclopedia about censorship: “Since the early 2010s, Russian Wikipedia and its editors have experienced numerous and increasing threats of nationwide blocks and country-wide enforcement of blacklisting by the Russian government, as well as several attempts to censor pages, spread propaganda, and disinform.”