Russia to sanction company behind Wikipedia for sharing ‘false information’
Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications watchdog in Russia, announcement take action to sanction the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, for violating Russian law. He accuses the encyclopedia of having violated Russian legislation relating to the conflict in Ukraine.
In a statement, Roskomnadzor said Wikipedia still hosts “prohibited materials, including false material about the conduct of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine.”
Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the Russian parliament’s information policy committee, said links to Wikipedia from search engines would be accompanied by a disclaimer warning users against violations of Russian law by the Wikimedia Foundation. Roskomnadzor clarified that these measures will remain in place until the Wikimedia Foundation fully complies with the current legislation.
Russia introduced sweeping new laws on sharing information about the conflict in Ukraine after the Kremlin ordered the deployment of tens of thousands of troops to the country on February 24.
On June 13, the Wikimedia Foundation appealed a Moscow court ruling fining it 5 million rubles (89,201 euros) for refusing to remove Russian-language Wikipedia articles on the Ukrainian conflict. , including “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine”, “War Crimes During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine” and “Butcha Massacre”.
