Russia considers imposing a financial fine on Wikipedia for not deleting illegal information

Russia’s media supervisory authority, Roskomnadzor, has informed that it will prepare a report on an administrative violation committed by the encyclopedic portal Wikipedia for failing to remove “illegal information” about the war in Ukraine.

As explained by the Russian regulator on its Telegram channel, Wikipedia would have violated an article of the Administrative Code for “not removing socially significant unreliable materials, as well as other prohibited information.”

Thus, the portal’s managers now face administrative liability that could result in a fine of up to four million rubles–about 45,000 euros–for failing to remove the required information in the time set by the Russian authorities.

Roskomnadzor asked Wikipedia earlier this week to remove all “inaccurate” content about the Ukrainian war, in compliance with the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Russian news agency Interfax reports.

The Russian authorities consider that the portal could be disseminating “false content” with the aim of “misinforming Russian users” about the “special military operation in Ukraine” -a concept coined by the Kremlin to refer to the invasion of the neighboring country.

Since the beginning of the war, and within the framework of the various sanctions imposed between Russia and the international community, the Russian media regulator has already banned the activity of social networks in Russia – such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter – as well as that of some international media.