When the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced that it is investigating manipulation of information on Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, co-founder of the encyclopedia, welcomed the news.
“I am glad that Congress is investigating the use of foreign and U.S. government funds to pay for biased editing on Wikipedia,” Sanger, who has criticized Wikipedia frequently in recent years, told JNS.
Sanger told JNS that he asked U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who led the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, in February to enact a policy barring federal workers from editing Wikipedia on the clock and preventing federal dollars from funding edits to the encyclopedia.
“There is clearly massive support for this sort of investigation,” Sanger said.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the House panel, and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who chairs its Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation, stated on Wednesday that they are probing “organized efforts, undertaken in violation of Wikipedia platform rules, to influence U.S. public opinion on important and sensitive topics by manipulating Wikipedia articles.”
The lawmakers wrote to Maryana Iskander, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, seeking “documents and information related to actions by Wikipedia volunteer editors caught violating platform policies, as well as Iskander’s efforts to thwart intentional, organized efforts to inject bias into sensitive topics.” (JNS sought comment from the foundation.)
“Multiple studies and reports have highlighted efforts to manipulate information on the Wikipedia platform for propaganda aimed at Western audiences,” the lawmakers wrote. “One recent report raised troubling questions about potentially systematic efforts to advance antisemitic and anti-Israel information in Wikipedia articles related to conflicts with the State of Israel.”
The lawmakers cited a recent Anti-Defamation League report, which stated that 30 editors on Wikipedia have been coordinating to “introduce antisemitic narratives, anti-Israel bias and misleading information.”
They also said that an Atlantic Council report indicated that “hostile nation-state actors” have spread pro-Kremlin and anti-Western messages by manipulating Wikipedia and other articles upon which artificial intelligence tools train.
“Your foundation, which hosts the Wikipedia platform, has acknowledged taking actions responding to misconduct by volunteer editors who effectively create Wikipedia’s encyclopedic articles,” the lawmakers wrote.
Sanger told JNS that Congress should consider evidence that the foundation acts legally as a “publisher,” rather than a “platform,” and that the former CEO of the foundation has “said that she coordinated with government agencies on ‘disinformation.’”
Wikipedia “makes broad editorial decisions about what constitutes reliable sources, which must be respected by large numbers of participants,” he said. “The Wikimedia Foundation could address the situation but does not.”
The foundation also “refuses to reveal the identity of its most powerful editors or to override decisions by editors,” he added.
“As our research showed earlier this year, antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on Wikipedia are a significant problem,” the Anti-Defamation League stated. “We welcome the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform opening an investigation into this issue and thank Rep. Comer for his leadership efforts to address this hate.”
