Russia Fines Wikipedia For “Misinformation” On The Military

A Russian court on Tuesday imposed a 2 million rouble (€25,000) fine on the Wikimedia Foundation after accusing it of failing to remove “misinformation” regarding the Russian military from Wikipedia.

Soon after it invaded Ukraine last year, Russia passed extensive new legislation that limits what may be reported about the conflict and penalizes or blocks websites that disseminate material contrary to the Kremlin’s official line.

Wikipedia’s parent company, Wikimedia, was previously punished for failing to remove two entries about the conflict, one of which was about “evaluations of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.”

The authorities accused Wikipedia of “promoting falsehoods” in entries concerning Russian military forces, leading to the latest penalties.

The organization stated that while it has not yet made a decision, it might appeal the verdict.

According to Stanislav Kozlovskiy, the chairman of the foundation’s Russian branch, “Wikipedia has only had one successful experience of appealing court rulings so far in the history of courts in Russia.”

According to the emergencies ministry, a hacking attack led to certain regional broadcasters in Russia issuing a bogus alert on Tuesday advising citizens to seek cover from an approaching missile attack.

According to a statement from the ministry, information concerning the issuance of an air alert was aired in some areas of the country as a result of hacking into the radio stations and TV channel computers.

“This information is inaccurate and doesn’t match reality,”

The Crimean peninsula, which Russia invaded from Ukraine in 2014, was one of the areas where the phony messages were broadcast, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.