Oversight Committee Probes Wikipedia for Bias

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has started an investigation into alleged organized attempts to inject bias into Wikipedia entries and the organization's responses, The Hill reported Wednesday.

Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., chair of the panel's subcommittee on cybersecurity, information technology and government innovation, on Wednesday sent an information request concerning the issue to Maryana Iskander, chief executive officer of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia.

In a letter containing the request, the legislators wrote that the committee is probing "the efforts of foreign operations and individuals at academic institutions subsidized by U.S. taxpayer dollars to influence U.S. public opinion."

The letter stated that the committee is seeking "your assistance in obtaining documents and communications regarding individuals (or specific accounts) serving as Wikipedia volunteer editors who violated Wikipedia platform policies as well as your own efforts to thwart intentional, organized efforts to inject bias into important and sensitive topics."

Comer and Mace wrote that "multiple studies and reports have highlighted efforts to manipulate information on the Wikipedia platform for propaganda aimed at Western audiences," including "one recent report [that] 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."

They further stated that the Wikimedia foundation, "which hosts the Wikipedia platform, has acknowledged taking actions responding to misconduct by volunteer editors who effectively create Wikipedia's encyclopedic articles."

Comer and Mace added that "the committee recognizes that virtually all web-based information platforms must contend with bad actors and their efforts to manipulate. 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."

The letter emphasized that "this includes questions concerning the tools and methods Wikipedia utilizes to identify and stop malicious conduct that injects bias or undermines a neutral point of view on its platform. We also seek to better our understanding of the individuals caught engaging in prohibited behavior."

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