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State Control Over The Internet: Now Comes ‘Wikipedia’ For Russians By Russians

by Felix Omondi

State Control Over The Internet: Now Comes ‘Wikipedia’ For Russians By Russians

Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin has termed the Internet as a “CIA special project”. The West is seen as using the internet as a tool that possess a threat to Russia. Thus, since the beginning of this year, Russia has been more aggressive in taking control over the internet, by putting in place more censorship.

Additionally, Russia is working on introducing more pro-Russia content to the internet, in much the same way it is closely controlling the state media television. Russia is now working on creating its own version of the Wikipedia.

Wikipedia has numerous pages focusing on virtually every region in Russia. These pages are written by internet users from around the world. Russia is now of the view that these contents are not good enough.

Analysis of this resource showed that it is not capable of providing information about the region and life of the country in a detailed or sufficient way”, as quoted from the Russian presidential library statement. “The creation of an alternative Wikipedia has begun.”

Since February, 2014, state authorities begun blocking websites they deem not fit, without first seeking a court order. Bloggers too have not been spared starting August bloggers commanding more than 3,000 followers are required to register with the Moscow’s mass media regulatory agency. They will now be required to follow the rules applicable to larger media outlets.

The statement from the presidential library also showed that 5,000 books and archive documents from 27 libraries across Russia have been handed over to the relevant authorities to kick-start the process of creating the alternative ‘Wikipedia’.

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