According to Russian news outlets, a Russian court has fined streaming site Twitch RUB 2 million (approximately Rs. 26,21,100) for displaying a brief video that contained what it claims "false" information concerning alleged war crimes in the Ukrainian village of Bucha.
Russia has regularly threatened to impose fines on websites it claims are carrying "fake" content about its military assault in Ukraine, including Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia.
According to the Kommersant daily, the court charged Twitch, a US-based live-streaming site favored by video gamers, with failing to take down a 31-second film of a girl from the town of Bucha. The video's content was not made clear.
An inquiry for comments was not immediately answered by Amazon-owned Twitch.
Following Moscow's invasion in February, Ukraine and its allies accuse Russian forces of committing atrocities in Bucha, a satellite town of Kiev. Russia disputes the accusation.
Earlier, according to RIA, Telegram messenger was fined twice a total of RUB 11 million (roughly Rs. 1 crore) for hosting "unreliable data" about Russia's progress in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine and for refusing to remove channels that purportedly demonstrated how to "sabotage" military vehicles.
Russia penalized Wikimedia Foundation last month for breaking Russian legislation in relation to the situation in Ukraine. Wikipedia is a part of the Wikimedia network. According to a statement from the Russian watchdog Roskomnadzor, search engines will alert users that Wikipedia is in violation of Russian legislation since it continues to host "prohibited information, including fakes concerning the course of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine." The measures, according to Roskomnadzor, will be in force until Wikimedia Foundation complies fully with Russian legislation.
Shortly after the Kremlin ordered tens of thousands of troops to deploy to the country on February 24, Russia unveiled comprehensive new legislation on the sharing of information regarding the crisis in Ukraine.
2022 Thomson Reuters
