Donald Trump and the Republicans They continue to harass Wikipedia. The conservatives yesterday opened an investigation against the popular encyclopedia online after the accusations that some of their volunteer editors would have “manipulated information” with “malicious intention” and “propaganda ends” to “disseminate content anti -Semite“And contrary to Israel.
The president of the Government Supervision and Reform Committee of the House of Representatives, James Eat, sent a letter to Maryana Iskander, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundationin which he asks the non -profit organization that houses Wikipedia to deliver documents that violated the platform policies by making “intentional and organized efforts to introduce biases on important and delicate issues. “
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non -profit organization that supports the communities of volunteers who edit Wikipedia worldwide, but neither writes nor determines what content is published in the portal. “This independent relationship is crucial to ensure that Wikipedia is maintained neutral and free of institutional biases, “he explained. Wikipedia’s internal policies demand that the content be written from a” neutral point of view “that shows all positions regarding a topic.
Influence operation?
The letter, also signed by the president of the cybersecurity subcommitte USA“.
The investigation responds to a report published in March by the Antidifamation League (ADL), which indicates the existence of a coordinated campaign in which 30 editors introduced “anti -Semitic narratives, antiisraeli bias and misleading information” about the conflict with Palestinethey maintained the critical content with the Jewish State and eliminated “the coverage of the violence and the terrorism Palestinians “perpetrated by Hamás.
ADL is a controversial Jewish organization that seeks to eradicate anti -Semitism. Intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky o Norman Finkelsteinboth Jews, have denounced that the center, financed by a millionaire organization, criminalizes and tacha of anti -Semitic any expression antixionist and contrary to the actions of the state of Israel to silence them. In June 2024, the community of volunteers that edits the contents of Wikipedia determined that ADL is a “generally unreliable” source about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Accusations not proven
The Wikipedia arbitration committee responded to accusations with disciplinary actions against some editors. Some were forbidden to edit certain controversial issues such as guerra in Gaza.
Even so, Trump and his allies have repeatedly charged against encyclopedia onlineaccusing her of being too leftist. Elon Musk He has cataloged the “extension of the propaganda of the traditional media” to stop the donations which receives, while the interim federal prosecutor of the Columbia district Ed Martin, appointed by the president despite having no experience, accused him in April of “allowing actors foreigners manipulate information. “The portal The Forward He uncovered in January that the conservative and Trumpist Foundation Heritage plans “to identify and aim” the editors of the encyclopedia, most of whom operate under a pseudonym, through the use of software of facial recognition and a database of user names and pirated passwords.
In an interview with New York Magazinethe Wikipedia co -founder Jimmy Wales He responded to the controversy manufactured about the alleged bias of the portal. “It’s something that I analyze, what I focus on and what I think. But every time I try to find problematic examples, I find it quite difficult.”
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