Russia fines Wikipedia for publishing facts instead of Kremlin war propaganda

A Russian court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 2 million rubles (about $27,000) today for failing to delete alleged "misinformation" about the Russian military from Wikipedia, Reuters reported. It's the third fine Russia has issued against the Wikipedia owner since Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

"Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Russia introduced sweeping new laws restricting what people can report about the conflict, fining or blocking websites that spread information at odds with the Kremlin's official narrative. ... The latest fine was imposed after the authorities accused Wikipedia of 'spreading misinformation' in articles about Russian military units," Wikimedia Russia told Reuters.

In a statement provided to Ars, the Wikimedia Foundation said the new "fines were for not complying with takedown requests for well-sourced content related to five articles about the Russian military on Russian language Wikipedia." Associate General Counsel Jacob Rogers also said, "These are part of several takedown orders and fines from Russian authorities we have continued to receive for failing to comply with similar requests. We have not taken down any content and already have two active appeals for fines on similar topics."

Wikimedia has consistently fought Russia's attempts at censorship. After receiving a demand to remove content about the invasion of Ukraine on March 1, 2022, Wikimedia said it "will not back down in the face of efforts to censor and intimidate members of our movement."

"The information available on Wikipedia is sourced and shared by volunteers who invest time and effort to ensure that the content is fact-based and reliable," Wikimedia said at the time. "Many continue to do so in adverse circumstances: As the invasion continues, Ukrainian volunteers have continued to add content and make edits to Wikipedia, even in face of deep hardship."

Russia objected to articles about Ukraine invasion

Russia followed through on its fine threats shortly after the invasion by issuing a penalty of 5 million rubles for so-called "disinformation." Wikimedia appealed the fine in June 2022, saying the "information at issue is fact-based and verified by volunteers who continuously edit and improve articles on the site; its removal would therefore constitute a violation of people's rights to free expression and access to knowledge."

Wikimedia said the 5 million ruble fine was issued for Russian Wikipedia articles titled Russian Invasions of Ukraine (2022), Battle for Kyiv, War Crimes during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Shelling of Hospital in Mariupol, Bombing of the Mariupol Theater, and Massacre in Bucha.

Russia issued another fine of 2 million rubles in November 2022 over Russian articles titled, "Non-violent resistance of Ukraine's civilian population in the course of Russia's invasion" and "Evaluations of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine," a Reuters article said at the time.

A Moscow court rejected one of Wikimedia's appeals last week. "So far, in the history of courts in Russia, Wikipedia has only had one successful experience of appealing court verdicts," Wikimedia Russia head Stanislav Kozlovskiy told Reuters.

"These orders are part of an ongoing effort by the Russian government to limit the spread of reliable, well-sourced information in the country. We condemn such efforts as pressure tactics, using legal liabilities to try to curb free knowledge," the Wikimedia Foundation said in its statement provided to Ars.

The new fines won't require a separate appeal. "This latest case does not present any new legal issues and can be addressed by our existing appeals," the foundation said.

An English Wikipedia article on the Russian Armed Forces says that "in various assessments, deficiencies have been noted in the country's combat performance on both the tactical and operational scales." The article also described "endemic corruption" within the military and logistical failures that became evident during the invasion of Ukraine.

"Amidst the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, severe logistical failures have greatly impacted the operational performance of Russian troops, as different service branches have struggled to coordinate and work together," the Wikipedia article says. "Continuous shortcomings have led Russia's war effort to suffer extensive setbacks since the initial invasion; the Russian Armed Forces have experienced successive losses of occupied/annexed territory, the large-scale destruction and squandering of their equipment, and a notably high casualty rate. Researchers from the RAND Corporation have observed that Russia continues to struggle with military professionalization."

This article was updated with comments from the Wikimedia Foundation.