Wikipedia appeals Russian fine for misinformation about Ukraine

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The Wikimedia Foundation, the organization behind Wikipedia, is appealing against a recent Russian court ruling regarding “banned” material. The online encyclopedia refused to remove certain pages and was fined for doing so.

The appeal was filed last week and challenges a recent fine of 5 million rubles, roughly 83,000 euros. The fine was imposed on the non-profit organization for refusing to remove alleged disinformation on the website, according to Wikimedia Foundation. The Russian court is expected to give a response in the coming weeks, although no specific deadline has been set.

The pages criticized by Russia all relate to the invasion of Ukraine and mostly describe war crimes and other atrocities against Ukrainian citizens. Pages such as ‘The Russian invasion of Ukraine’, ‘War crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine’ and ‘Bucha massacre’, among others, had to be removed from the platform by the Russian government, which Wikipedia refused to do.

According to the Wikimedia Foundation, it is in all cases ‘reliable, verified knowledge’ of social importance: “The [Russische] government has focused on information essential to people’s lives in this time of crisis. We ask the court to reconsider its decision in favor of everyone’s right to access knowledge and freedom of expression.”

This is not the first time that the Russian government has taken steps against Wikipedia. For example, the online encyclopedia was previously forced to adjust an article about a certain type of hashish after pressure from the Russian communication authority. Roskomnadzor, the relevant body, also protested in the recent Ukraine case.

The Kremlin has repeatedly objected to specific pages on Wikipedia

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