Russian court fines Wikipedia $27,000 over military "misinformation"
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A Russian court on Tuesday imposed a $27,000 fine on the Wikimedia Foundation after the government accused it of neglecting to remove "misinformation" about the Russian military from Wikipedia.
Soon after its invasion of Ukraine last year, Russia passed extensive new legislation that limits what can be reported about the conflict and penalises or blocks websites that disseminate information contrary to the Kremlin's official narrative.
Wikipedia's parent company, Wikimedia, was previously fined for failing to remove two entries about the conflict, one of which was about "evaluations of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine."
According to Wikimedia Russia, the latest fine was imposed after the authorities claimed that Wikipedia was "spreading misinformation" in entries about Russian military forces, Reuters reported.
The organisation stated that while it had not yet made a decision, it might appeal the ruling.
"So far, in the history of courts in Russia, Wikipedia has only had one successful experience of appealing court verdicts," the head of the foundation's Russian chapter, Stanislav Kozlovskiy, told Reuters.