Russian Court Fines Wikipedia for Article About War in Ukraine

The Wikipedia Foundation was fined about $24,510 or 2 Million Roubles for not deleting ‘banned content’ related to the Russian Military

A Russian court in Moscow has fined the Wikipedia Foundation, the foundation that owns Wikipedia, for over $24,000 dollars or 2 million Roubles for not deleting ‘banned content’ related to the Russian Military.

This was not the first, nor the second time that a Russian court has fined Wikipedia, instead this was the 7th time in 2023 that Wikipedia has been fined by the country. The total fines imposed by Russia on Wikipedia are now amounting to 8.4 million roubles or $100,000.

According to details, this new fine has been imposed because Wikipedia did not delete an informational article about a military unit, which contained classified information about the unit’s location, composition and equipment.

It’s also being said that the article contained some information about Russia’s progress of its ‘special military operation in Ukraine’.

Wikipedia is currently one of the few independent news sources in Russia after most of them got banned amidst the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “We are not blocking Wikipedia yet, there are no such plans for now,” said Maksut Shadaev, the digital affairs minister of Russia.

Up until now, Wikipedia Foundation has refused to comment on the matter, however commenting on a previous court imposed fine, the organization said that the complaints filed by Russian authorities are well-sourced and in line with Wikipedia standards.

 

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