Wikipedia co-founder calls on Elon Musk to investigate government influence over online encyclopedia
'May I ask you to determine what branches of the U.S. government—if any!—have employees paid to edit, monitor, update, lobby, etc., WIkipedia?' Sanger asked Musk
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger is calling on Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to look into whether government actors have infiltrated the online encyclopedia that he helped start over two decades ago.
"Hi @ElonMusk. Wikipedia co-founder here. May I ask you to determine what branches of the U.S. government—if any!—have employees paid to edit, monitor, update, lobby, etc., WIkipedia? Such operations should be defunded, if any. If there are *none*, we’d like to know. Agree?" Sanger recently wrote on X.
Sanger, who left the organization in 2002, has been a heavy critic of Wikipedia since about 2005, when he says the website began to drift into left-wing bias.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I like to call myself its founder now because I kind of want to distance myself from it," Sanger told Fox News Digital.
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger feels the site is now biased. (Getty Images)
Sanger says the website has long abandoned its neutrality policy, which he helped develop at its beginning.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The "neutral point of view" policy, which Wikipedia says is still one of its guiding principles, means content presented on the website is "represented fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without editorial bias," according to Wikipedia's own definition.
"Neutrality means you can't tell what position a person takes on the topic," Sanger told Fox News Digital. "Any of the controversial issues that the topic of the article raises, you can't tell what position they take on them. Almost no Wikipedia articles these days rise to that level."
Sanger said he could see the evolution of the website when looking at articles on topics like global warming, which he said had once been presented fairly but now appear one-sided.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger said certain socio-political topics on Wikipedia, like global warming, were once neutral. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
"More and more of the positions disapproved by the establishment began to be downplayed and ultimately essentially dismissed and even demonized as the years went by. By 2015, 2020, it was fully woke," he argued.
He argued there is a liberal spin when looking at articles on political figures as well.
"If the candidate is a Republican, then the worst points are brought out. The best points are minimized. If the candidate is a Democrat, then it is a puff piece, essentially," he claimed, citing pages on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}KAMALA HARRIS' WIKIPEDIA PAGE SCRUBBED OF INFORMATION AMID VEEPSTAKES, IGNITING ONLINE FIGHT
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger claimed that articles for Democratic presidential candidates, like Hillary Clinton, had a left-wing bias. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
With the new Trump administration's goal to tackle waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, Sanger sees a prime opportunity for DOGE to take another look at Wikipedia.
He believes there's evidence to raise questions about potential government influence on the website and warned there could be foreign influence from China or Russia on the website as well.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"So I just want to know what the heck they've been doing there," Sanger told Fox News Digital. "It seems to me this is a thing that needs to be discussed."
"I actually want the heat to be on both the government and on Wikipedia to take this sort of behavior in hand," he added.
ELON MUSK JOKES HE'LL GIVE $1B TO WIKIPEDIA IF SITE CHANGES NAME
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger called on Elon Musk, President Trump, to investigate whether there's government "funding" involved in the online encyclopedia. (Getty Images)
Musk, who has also long been a critic of Wikipedia, seemed receptive to Sanger's request.
In a follow-up tweet to President Trump that's drawn over 35 million views, Sanger asked Trump to write an executive order barring federal workers and government funds from being used to edit or pay for editing on Wikipedia.
"Good idea," Musk replied.
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Wikipedia did not respond to a request for comment.