House Oversight launches investigation into alleged Wikipedia article manipulation

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee and one of its subcommittees on Wednesday announced an investigation into allegations of an organized effort to skew U.S. public opinion on sensitive topics by manipulating Wikipedia articles.

Wikipedia is a nonpartisan nonprofit that allows the public to edit encyclopedic articles, but the website's editing team is supposed to review information and remove material that is not verified. 

House Oversight Chairman James Comer and Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Chairwoman Nancy Mace sent a letter to Wikimedia Foundation Chief Executive Officer Maryana Iskander, requesting documents and information related to actions by Wikipedia volunteer editors caught violating platform policies.

“Multiple studies and reports have highlighted efforts to manipulate information on the Wikipedia platform for propaganda aimed at Western audiences," the lawmakers wrote. "One recent report 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. 

“A second investigation detailed actions by hostile nation-state actors to expose Western audiences to pro-Kremlin and anti-Western messaging by manipulating Wikipedia articles and other news outlets relied on for training AI chatbots," they added.

The lawmakers said their investigation seeks to examine how the nonprofit responds to bad actors in order to restore its credibility as a neutral arbiter of information, and what actions are taken to hold the bad actors accountable.

The Wikimedia Foundation confirmed to The Hill that it received the letter, but has not commented on the allegations or concerns raised in the probe.

“We welcome the opportunity to respond to the Committee’s questions and to discuss the importance of safeguarding the integrity of information on our platform,” a foundation spokesperson said.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.