Russia fines Wikipedia millions of roubles over military 'misinformation'

A Russian court on Tuesday (Feb 28), fined the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, two million roubles ($27,000) for 'misinformation' about the Russian military.

This latest fine was imposed after the authorities accused Wikipedia of "spreading misinformation" in its articles about the Russian military units, Wikimedia Russia said, according to a Reuters report.

The organisation was already fined last year after it failed to delete two articles related to the Ukraine war, including one on "evaluations of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine." Itplans to appeal the ruling.

However, talking to Reuters, Stanislav Kozlovsky, the head of the foundation's Russia chapter said, "so far, in the history of courts in Russia, Wikipedia has only had one successful experience of appealing court verdicts."

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The authorities previously also slapped Western tech companies including Google and Telegram with massive fines over Ukraine-related content. In July, a Russian court fined Google 21 billion roubles ($360 million) for failing to remove content concerning Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.

The February 24 invasion by Russia last year has led to a clampdown on free speech in the nation. As reported by AFP, it has exacerbated the country's crackdown on press freedom and caused an exodus of independent Russian journalists.

In its "special military operation in Kyiv," Moscow also introduced sweeping laws restricting entities and people on what they can report on the conflict, fining or blocking websites that spread information at odds with Kremlin's officials.

As per media reports, Moscow has effectively forbidden criticism of Russia's military engagement in Kyiv and outlawed using the terms "war" or "invasion" to describe the operation.

(with inputs from agencies)

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