The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, has filed an appeal against a Moscow court decision ordering it to remove information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing that people have a right to know the truth about the conflict.
A Moscow court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 5 million roubles ($88,000) for refusing to remove ‘disinformation’ from Russian-language Wikipedia articles about the war, including “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine,’ ‘War Crimes During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine,’ and ‘Massacre in Bucha.’
‘This decision implies that well-sourced, verified knowledge on Wikipedia that contradicts Russian government accounts constitutes disinformation,’ Wikimedia Foundation Associate General Counsel Stephen LaPorte said in a statement.
After a media crackdown in Moscow, Wikipedia, which claims to offer ‘the second draught of history,’ is one of the few major fact-checked Russian-language sources of information for Russians.
‘In a time of crisis, the government is targeting information that is critical to people’s lives,’ LaPorte said. ‘We implore the court to reconsider in favour of everyone’s right to access to knowledge and free expression.’
The Moscow court argued that the disinformation on Wikipedia posed a threat to public order in Russia and that the Foundation, based in San Francisco, California, was operating within Russia.
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