Wikimedia Foundation files lawsuits against Russian Prosecutor General's Office, Roskomnadzor over blocking Wikipedia information

MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax) - Moscow's Tverskoi District Court will consider administrative lawsuits in July filed by Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (the owner of Wikipedia), which is seeking the invalidation of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office's demand to block user access to a number of articles, the court press service told Interfax.

"Talks on the two lawsuits filed by Wikimedia Foundation against the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, Russian First Deputy Prosecutor General Anatoly Razinkin, and Roskomnadzor are scheduled for 9:45 a.m. and 11:25 a.m. Moscow time," the court said.

In both lawsuits, Wikimedia Foundation is asking the court to invalidate Roskomnadzor's notices about violations of procedures governing dissemination of information on Wikipedia, as well as the Russian Prosecutor General's Office's demands for measures to be taken to restrict user access to this information.

Wikimedia has been issued several fines in 2023 for failing to delete false information on the special military operation from Wikipedia, information about organizations recognized in Russia as extremist, and other information prohibited in Russia. The fines given to the foundation in these cases total around 10 million rubles.