Russia fined Apple and Wikipedia on Thursday for not deleting what it says is fake news about Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
A Russian court fined Apple 400,000 rubles — around €4,000 — for failing to remove material on Apple Podcasts it considered to be false, reported Russian state-run news agency TASS.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor had reportedly notified the company that it needed to remove information that was “aimed at destabilizing the political situation” in the country.
The same court also later fined Wikipedia 3 million rubles — around €29,000 — for the same offense.
This is the first time Apple has been fined for this offense, Russian media reported, while Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, has been fined numerous times. In April, the company was reportedly fined for the seventh time for not deleting what it said was “banned content” related to the Russian military.
Apple paused the sale of all its products in Russia and limited Apple Pay services in 2022, in response to the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
POLITICO has contacted both Apple and Wikipedia for comment.