MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) - A Moscow justice of the peace has imposed a 2-million-ruble administrative fine on Wikimedia Foundation for not removing fake information about the Russian special military operation in Ukraine from Wikipedia.
"To penalize Wikimedia Foundation Inc. with an administrative fine of 2 million rubles," Justice of the Peace of Judicial District No. 422 in Moscow's Tagansky district Timur Vakhrameyev said.
Wikimedia Foundation was found guilty of not removing prohibited information.
According to materials in the administrative case read out in court, Wikimedia was charged with not removing material, which, in the opinion of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, contains incorrect information about the Russian special military operation in Ukraine from Wikipedia articles at the demand of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).
This is the 13th time Wikimedia has been penalized in 2023 for not removing prohibited information. The thirteen fines total 22.4 million rubles.
The Wikimedia lawyer asked the court to drop the case, in particular, because of procedural violations and the fact that the disputed articles contained information provided by international organizations, including those recognized by Russia.
In the past few years, the largest Internet services - Google, Telegram, Facebook (information resource of an entity banned in Russia), Twitter, TikTok, Wikimedia - have been repeatedly penalized in Russia over failure to remove prohibited content.