House Republicans Probe Wikipedia Over Alleged Bias, Foreign Manipulation

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

House Republicans have opened an inquiry into whether the Wikimedia Foundation is doing enough to stop coordinated efforts to manipulate Wikipedia entries on important and sensitive topics to influence U.S. public opinion.

In an Aug. 27 letter to Wikimedia Foundation CEO Maryana Iskander, James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committe, and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), chairwoman of the panel’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, requested records on volunteer editors found to have violated site rules and documentation of the foundation’s policies for ensuring neutrality.

The lawmakers said they are examining whether hostile foreign actors, taxpayer-funded academic institutions, or other organized groups are behind manipulation campaigns.

The inquiry follows recent reports detailing attempts to push anti-Semitic and anti-Israel narratives on Wikipedia pages related to Middle East conflicts, and to inject pro-Kremlin messaging aimed at Western readers.

The GOP lawmakers warned that such edits not only shape public perception but also risk seeding bias into artificial intelligence systems that rely on Wikipedia for training data.

“The Committee recognizes that virtually all web-based information platforms must contend with bad actors and their efforts to manipulate,” Comer and Mace wrote in the letter.

“Our inquiry seeks information to help our examination of how Wikipedia responds to such threats and how frequently it creates accountability when intentional, egregious, or highly suspicious patterns of conduct on topics of sensitive public interest are brought to attention.”

Comer and Mace noted that the Wikimedia Foundation has acknowledged taking action in response to misconduct by volunteer editors who craft Wikipedia’s articles.

The lawmakers set a Sept. 10 deadline for the foundation to turn over records of these actions, including Arbitration Committee proceedings, identifying details of disciplined accounts, and analyses of manipulation.

They’re also seeking documentation of Wikipedia’s editorial policies, including ones that address bias and ensure neutrality.

The Wikimedia Foundation issued a statement to several media outlets saying it looks forward to responding to the committee’s questions and discussing the importance of safeguarding the integrity of information on the platform.

Allegations of bias have long dogged Wikipedia. Half a dozen studies, including two from Harvard, have identified that Wikipedia exhibits a left-wing bias.

Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders“ in 2021 that the online encyclopedia has drifted away from impartiality and slid into ”leftist propaganda.”

Sanger said that, in recent years, the site has increasingly misrepresented people on the political right or those with contrarian views, often omitting key achievements and portraying them as “conspiracy theorists” or “far right.”

He also stated that Wikipedia has excluded conservative outlets, resulting in its content shifting to the left.

Wikipedia did not respond to an earlier request for comment on Sanger’s criticism by publication time.