Wikipedia is most people’s go-to site when it comes to accurate information about anything. It is much like a global encyclopedia. That being said, Russia still thinks that the American Wikipedia, or the international one for that matter, is filled with unreliable and misleading information. That is why Russia is now working on their own version of the information site. Vladimir Putin has talked about the Russian Wikipedia last week and he hopes that it will become the most popular internet site in Russia.
Currently, the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library is working on the new version of Wikipedia (for Russia) alongside the National Library of Russia. The actual announcement about the new Russian Wikipedia was made on Friday by both libraries. “The initiative will be an alternative of Wikipedia: the analysis of this resource has shown that it does not have enough detailed and reliable information about Russian regions and the life of the country.” – said a spokesperson for the Boris Yeltsin Library.
From what we understood, the Russian Wikipedia will aim to gather and publish information from local sources and make the encyclopedia itself more accurate than the current Wikipedia is. That denotes the fact that Russia and its government are practicing some form of censorship and propaganda, which in turn reflects poorly on the country. While these are only speculation, the fact that Russia is commissioning its own internet encyclopedia still proves that Vladimir Putin and co don’t really trust American sources.
The library spokesperson or Putin for that matter, didn’t say why they considered the American Wikipedia unreliable or dangerous, but we suspect it’s because you can find information on Russian surveillance and crimes against humanity, as well as violations of rights. The attempt at a Russian Wikipedia is just an event in a chain of events that prove Russia is forcing control over the internet. Kremlin has already passed laws that force bloggers with more than 3000 daily readers to register with regulators and requires that all citizens’ data be stored within Russia. At the same time, Vladimir Putin has reassured citizens that texts, shares, photos, blog posts, videos or any other media which doesn’t comply with government policy will be monitored, and those from whom they originated, will be held criminally responsible.
In any case, we are looking forward to seeing the custom Russia Wikipedia, if we will be able to access it. At the same time, we’re sure Russia and its citizens will not appreciate if the new Wikipedia is filled with propaganda and lies. All the internet regulations and Putin’s new policies are fueling an increasingly nervous nation which is bound to act in the near future. What do you think about Russia developing its own version of Wikipedia? Do you think it is fair to its citizens to fill the internet with propaganda?