(ANSA) – ROME, MARCH 22 – In Russia there is a boom in Wikipedia downloads, after the threats of a ban from the Kremlin for alleged disinformation on the war and the arrest of a historic Russian-speaking editor. According to the Slate website, the 29GB file with the Russian version of Wikipedia has currently been downloaded 105,889 times in the first half of March, a number that is over 4000% higher than in January. According to reports from Stephane Coillet-Matillon – at the helm of Kiwix, the organization that facilitates these downloads – the downloads of the Russian version now account for 42% of all Kiwix server traffic. A similar but smaller phenomenon occurred in 2017, when Turkey blocked Wikipedia.
On 11 March, Mark Bernstein, one of the leading editors of the Russian version of Wikipedia, was arrested. The encyclopedia was previously threatened with censorship by Moscow for the page ‘Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022)’, which according to the Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications agency, contains erroneous information on the conflict and is subject to the new fake news law on the war which entails up to 15 years in prison. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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