Alleged dissemination of propaganda: US government threatens Wikipedia
The Wikimedia Foundation, which is responsible for Wikipedia, enjoys a tax exemption in the USA. Now a federal prosecutor is challenging this with accusations.
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A federal prosecutor in the service of the US government has accused the Wikimedia Foundation of violating laws and at least implicitly threatened to revoke its tax exemption. This emerges from a letter from the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, which was reported in advance by several media outlets and is now available on Wikisource. In the letter, Ed Martin points out that tax-exempt organizations “may only be used for religious, charitable, scientific” and other purposes. Regarding the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, however, he has been informed that “foreign actors could manipulate information and spread propaganda”.
Propaganda for foreign powers?
In the letter, Martin claims, among other things, that “Wikipedia allows the manipulation of information on its platform, including the rewriting of important historical events and biographical data on former and current US leaders”. It also suggests that foreign propaganda is disguised as “informational material” on Wikipedia to influence the US public. In addition, the responsible board of directors consists mainly of people with other nationalities, which undermines the interests of US taxpayers. Although educational content is neutral, his office has information “that shows that Wikipedia's information policy benefits foreign powers”.
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This is also problematic because internet search engines such as Google have agreed to prioritize content from Wikipedia. However, if the content there is not neutral, prioritizing it would harm the US public. Furthermore, he had been informed that generative AI platforms were also trained with Wikipedia content and that the allegedly manipulative Wikipedia content would ultimately reach the US public via these platforms. Against this background, the prosecutor has asked the organization a series of questions that must be answered by 15 May.
Wikimedia pointed out to The Verge that Wikipedia content must be neutral and verifiable, and must not include original research. This ensures that it is as “accurate, fair and neutral as possible”. Transparent moderation is carried out by almost 260,000 volunteers. Ed Martin was appointed by US President Donald Trump and is the first federal prosecutor in 50 years to have no experience as a judge or prosecutor. Experts believe that the letter is unusual, as the examination of a tax exemption is normally the responsibility of the IRS. This suggests that a crime has been committed, The Free Press quotes a specialist lawyer.
(mho)
