A top Wikipedia editor has been arrested in Belarus

Image: Wikipedia

Mark Bernstein, the editor of the encyclopedia, was arrested by the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of Belarus. Bernstein's personal information was shared on the public Telegram channel. Bernstein is one of the top editors.

Bernstein's information, including his social media, Wikipedia handle, and place of work, had been shared in a channel on the messaging app. A video of Bernstein's arrest was posted with his photo and personal details. Bernstein is accused of distributing fake anti-Russian information in the photo.

Berstein was accused of editing articles about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The information in the Telegram channels does not specify what Bernstein has been charged with. Bernstein made over 200,000 edits to Russian Wikipedia articles in his activity log. His account is blocked indefinitely.

Users in Russia were advised to hide personal data and only edit articles about the war from other accounts in the Russian Wikipedia channel on Telegram.

The staging area for units moving towards the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was offered by the government of Belarus. Earlier today, Ukraine claimed that Russia staged a false flag attack to provoke the country to join the invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law last week that punishes people for spreading fake news with up to 15 years in prison. The country's tech and communications agency threatened to block the Russian-language page of the internet encyclopedia. The Wikimedia Foundation supported Russian Wikipedia editors.

A Wikimedia Foundation spokesman said the group was watching the situation closely. Over 200,000 edits have been made to this. We regret the mistake.