Angry that Wikipedia articles about the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine don’t parrot Kremlin propaganda, Russia on Thursday threatened the user-edited website with fines amounting to a whopping 4 million rubles.
Or, rather, thanks to The ruble is being severely devaluedRussia’s invasion was prompted by the imposition of sanctions around the world. Around $49,000 USD.
In a statement Post online, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media censorship authority, complained that Wikipedia contains “unreliable socially significant materials, as well as other prohibited information,”This is presumably a reference to the largely accurate articles on the unprovoked invasion.
Roskomnadzor stated that it had contacted Wikipedia administrators, and asked them to provide a copy. “immediately remove inaccurate information on the subject of a special military operation of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine, aimed at misinforming Russian users.” If not, the statement said the site will be required to pay the ₽4 million.
Wikipedia representatives have not commented on Russia’s demand that it fork over about 0.049% of it’s total endowment100 million. But In a March 3rd statementThe Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, stated that it was responding to Russian censorship demands. “will not back down in the face of efforts to censor and intimidate members of our movement. We stand by our mission to deliver free knowledge to the world.”