A Moscow court on Tuesday fined the online encyclopaedia again for failing to delete what it considers to be unlawful information, while the Russian minister of digital affairs claimed his country is “not yet” going to shut Wikipedia.
One of the few independent sources of information in Russia that has survived since the government began to crack down on internet material after Moscow pushed troops into Ukraine is Wikipedia.
“We are not blocking Wikipedia yet, there are no such plans for now,” Interfax news agency quoted digital affairs minister Maksut Shadaev as saying.
Wikipedia said in an emailed statement it would “continue to provide access to Wikipedia for Russian speakers around the world who find value in the site and endeavour to protect everyone’s right to access”.
A Moscow court fined Wikimedia Foundation, the company that owns Wikipedia, 800,000 roubles ($9,777) on Tuesday for what Russian authorities claimed was a failure to delete content that was seen to be encouraging train hopping, in which a person rides on the side or top of a train.
Wikipedia has previously said that the content about which the Russian government complained was properly sourced and adhered to Wikipedia standards. Without much success, Russia has been trying to create its own online encyclopaedia for years.
Similar difficulties have been encountered by Russia in developing a rival video hosting site to Alphabet’s YouTube, which is still accessible while other international social media networks are prohibited.
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, said on Tuesday a court had ordered Google to pay 1 billion roubles for blocking the Duma TV YouTube channel.
“Today, the bailiff service has started seizing property, in search of these funds,” Volodin said.
Google in Russia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Interfax news agency later said communications regulator Roskomnadzor was seeking to fine Google up to 4 million roubles for refusing to remove content banned in Russia. The case will be heard in a Moscow court on 20 April.
Last September a court upheld a fine of 21.7 billion roubles against Google’s Russian subsidiary for repeated failure to delete information related to the campaign in Ukraine.
The subsidiary filed for bankruptcy after authorities seized its bank account. The US tech giant has paused commercial operations in Russia, but free services remain available.
Russia also fined Amazon’s Twitch 4 million roubles for failing to delete “false information” about Moscow’s campaign. Twitch had no immediate comment.
($1 = 81.8255 roubles)
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