Russian court imposes ₹19.93 lakh fine on Wikipedia for not deleting 'banned' content on its military
2 min read . Updated: 27 Apr 2023, 02:34 PM IST
Premium- Russia on Thursday imposed a fine a 2 million rubles ( ₹19.93 lakh) on Wikipedia owner for not complying with the order to delete ‘banned content’
A court in Russia on Thursday imposed a fine of 2 million rubles ( ₹19.93 lakh) on a Wikipedia owner for not complying with the order to delete ‘banned content’ related to the Russian military. The fresh fines are another addition to the number of penalties Russian courts are imposing against Wikipedia.
Just six days ago, a court in Moscow fined the non-profit organization for 1.5 million rubles over a Russian-language article about the ongoing Ukraine conflict. The fine came after Wikipedia refused to remove the page titled 'Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia region'.
Earlier, Moscow's Tagansky District Court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 800,000 rubles for not removing information considered to be promoting hopping.
Russian minister of digital affairs recently said that the country is currently not planning to block Wikipedia. "We are not blocking Wikipedia yet, there are no such plans for now," Interfax news agency quoted digital affairs minister Maksut Shadaev as saying.
Following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, there has been an increase in state-led suppression of online content in Russia. As a result, Wikipedia stands out as one of the rare independent sources of information still available in the country.
The non-profit encyclopedia platform has affirmed to provide access to Wikipedia for Russian speakers around the world.
Wikipedia said in an emailed statement to Reuters that it would "continue to provide access to Wikipedia for Russian speakers around the world who find value in the site and endeavor to protect everyone's right to access".
Wikipedia is not the only platform facing the wrath of Russian authorities, in September 2022, a court in Russia upheld a fine of 21.7 billion rubles that was imposed on Google's subsidiary in the country due to its repeated failure to remove information related to the Ukrainian campaign.
As a result of this fine, the subsidiary filed for bankruptcy when its bank account was seized by authorities. Although Google has temporarily suspended its commercial operations in Russia, its free services can still be accessed.
Furthermore, Russia also imposed a fine of 4 million rubles on Amazon's Twitch for failing to remove "false information" pertaining to Moscow's campaign. Twitch has not yet provided any comment on this matter.