''MV-media'', also known as ''MV??!!'', formerly ''Mitä Vittua?'' ("What the Fuck?") and ''MV-lehti'', is a Finnish

fake news website Fake news websites (also referred to as hoax news websites) are websites on the Internet that deliberately publish fake news—hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation purporting to be news, real news—often using social media to drive web traffic ...

founded by . The website publishes

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

and

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

with a racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Islam, anti-vaccine, pro-Russian and Eurosceptic agenda. The site has links to the far-right anti-immigrant group

Soldiers of Odin Soldiers of Odin (SOO; ) is an anti-immigrant group which was founded in Kemi, Finland, in October 2015. The group was established in response to the thousands of migrants who were arriving in Finland amidst the European migrant crisis. They ca ...

. As of 2022, the publication is based in Russian-occupied Eastern Ukraine and regularly shares Russian state propaganda. By March 2015, ''MV-lehti'' was the target of five police reports regarding defamation. In January 2016, nine student and youth groups called for advertisers to boycott the site due to "hate speech and repeated lies". Janitskin was suspected of several crimes, including

incitement to ethnic or racial hatred Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred is a crime under the laws of several countries. Australia In Australia, the Racial Hatred Act 1995 amends the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, inserting Part IIA – Offensive Behaviour Because of Race, Colou ...

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

, and was taken into custody by the

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

n police in August 2017. He had several previous convictions for violent crimes between 2000 and 2011. He was later extradited to Finland, and in October 2018, Janitskin was convicted of 16 offences and given a 22-month prison sentence. According to the court, Janitskin was the chief editor and owner of MV-lehti, and as such he was responsible for its content. Among the convictions were defamation of the journalist

Jessikka Aro Jessikka Aro (born 19 December 1980) is a Finnish journalist working for Finland's public service broadcaster Yle and an author of a non-fiction book ''Putin's Trolls''. In September 2014, she began to investigate pro-Russian Internet trolls, but ...

and two other women. Janitskin was likely to be spared from any more prison time, however, as he had been in custody and in home arrest for almost a year, and as a first-timer he would have been released after completing half of his sentence. In January 2018, Janitskin left MV-media. The new owner, Juha Korhonen, said he would turn the website into a "cleaner" version. Since 2019 the editor in chief has been Janus Putkonen. Janitskin died of cancer in February 2020 at the age of 42. He had been appealing his convictions.

References

{{Finnish far right 2014 establishments in Finland 9/11 conspiracy theorists Alternative medicine publications Anti-vaccination media Fake news websites European political websites Finnish websites Political mass media in Finland Internet properties established in 2014 Pseudoscience Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Finland Finland–Russia relations Propaganda in the Russo-Ukrainian War Russophilia

See also

References