Russia threatens Wikipedia with fines over “false information”

Enlarge / Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2021. (credit: RAMIL SITDIKOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Roskomnadzor, Russia's censorship authority, issued another demand on Tuesday for Wikipedia to remove what it called "unreliable socially significant information." The agency warned that failure to comply could lead to fines of up to 4 million rubles ($50,000).

The Wikimedia Foundation did not immediately respond to an email from Ars seeking comment. But the organization made its stance plain last month after the Russian government made similar demands. A March 3 statement on the Wikimedia website declared that "we will not back down in the face of efforts to censor and intimidate members of our movement."

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the government tightened its already strict media censorship regime. In early March, President Vladimir Putin signed legislation prohibiting the publication of "fake news." Violators could face prison terms of as long as 15 years. Passage of the law led a number of Western media organizations to suspend reporting in Russia.

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