Russian 'failure to delete banned content' law / post-2022 war-censorship statutes

On August 15, 2023, a Moscow court fined Reddit for the first time, ordering it to pay two million rubles (about $20,000) for failing to delete content Russian authorities deemed illegal 'banned content.' Reporting indicated the flagged material included content characterized as 'fake' information about Russia's military campaign in Ukraine and about Soviet World War II history, as well as material said to 'discredit' the armed forces, under laws adopted after the 2022 invasion. The fine placed Reddit among foreign platforms such as Wikimedia, Twitch, and Google penalized for non-removal. This was an enforced monetary penalty, distinct from the 2015 blacklisting episode. It reflects Russia's escalating financial pressure on platforms that decline to remove war-related content.