Blocking Wikipedia in Russia

Blocking of Wikipedia in Russia is an event that occurred in August 2015, in which some selected articles of Wikipedia were blocked in Russia.

Background
On July 28, 2012, President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed Federal Law No. 139-FZ "On Amending the Federal Law on the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to their Health and Development and certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation." This law in other federal laws was introduced a number of provisions involving the blocking of Internet sites on the blacklist system and blocking of prohibited Internet resources. A number of experts expressed concerns that this law could be used to enable internet censorship.

On November 1, 2012, the provisions concerning a unified register of domain names and URLs containing prohibited information entered into force. A Unified Register of Prohibited Sites was created.

Within three years of the adoption of the law, more than 25 Russian Wikipedia articles, mainly about drugs and suicide, entered the Unified Register of Prohibited Sites. Most of these articles, after some time, were removed from the register. However, until August 25, 2015, there had been no blocking whatsoever of Wikipedia articles in any part of Russia

See also
Pierre-sur-Haute military radio station
Censorship of Wikipedia
Blocking Telegram in Russia

References

Russia
Category:Internet censorship in Russia
Category:August 2015 events in Russia