A Russian court fined the Wikimedia Foundation, which controls Wikipedia, two million roubles ($24,510) on Thursday for failing to delete “banned content” relating to the Russian military, according to Interfax.
It was the eighth fine issued on Wikimedia in 2023 for failing to remove banned information. The total amount of penalty is now 8.4 million roubles.
The most recent penalty was for failing to remove an item about a military unit that contained “classified military information” about its location, makeup, and equipment, as well as information about the development of what Russia refers to as its special military operation in Ukraine.
Wikipedia is one of the few independent sources of information in Russia that has survived an official assault on internet content since Moscow invaded Ukraine last year.
This is coming after the Russian digital affairs minister, Maksut Shadaev was quoted saying, “We are not blocking Wikipedia yet, there are no such plans for now,”
