MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. The Tagansky District Court of Moscow has fined the Wikimedia Foundation, the owner of the Russian-language Wikipedia, 15.2 million rubles ($183,686) across four separate administrative protocols for failing to remove information prohibited in Russia, a TASS correspondent reports from the courtroom.

"The Tagansky District Court of Moscow has found Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. guilty of an administrative offense under Part 2 of Article 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (failure by a website owner to remove information when required by Russian law) and has imposed a fine of ... 15.2 million rubles ($183,686)," the judge announced.

This is the total fine imposed on the company across four similar protocols.

The Wikimedia Foundation is frequently held administratively liable for refusing to remove content prohibited in Russia. In February 2023, the organization was fined 2 million rubles ($24,169) for publishing details on the deployment locations of three Russian military units. In April 2022, it was fined for failing to remove articles concerning events in Bucha, the destruction of a hospital and a theater in Mariupol, and instructions on manufacturing gunpowder. According to Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor, prohibited materials remain on Wikipedia, including fake news regarding the special military operation in Ukraine. Consequently, search engines label the Wikimedia Foundation as a violator of Russian law.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a US-registered non-profit charitable organization known as the platform for Wikipedia and its sister projects.