T.D. Adler

The Wikipedia article on “gender-critical feminism” about feminists like author JK Rowling who oppose transgender ideology has been renamed as “trans-exclusionary radical feminism” after a closely-divided debate. Although recognizing the term is seen as pejorative, the discussion was closed by a far-left transgender editor in favor of the change. Many editors pushing for the rename are extreme leftists and the discussion opened by comparing gender-critical feminists to Nazis.

In March, Wikipedia’s parent organization the Wikimedia Foundation banned Serbian admin Bojan Cvjetković from all affiliated sites alongside numerous others primarily active on the Serbian-language Wikipedia. Cvjetković possessed “checkuser” privileges on the site, allowing him access to confidential user data, which proved controversial as he also engaged in paid editing. In an unprecedented development, Cvjetković’s ban was lifted on Wednesday along with another banned user, allowing them to resume editing.

The New York Times has published a piece about Bernadette Meehan, who this year became CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia. The article praised Meehan’s background in diplomacy, serving primarily during the Obama and Biden administrations, and claimed the site was “in peril” from right-wing critics and AI with Meehan arriving to protect it. Despite mentioning Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, the piece fails to mention his ban from the site, which the Times covered.

Wiki Loves Pride, an event on Wikipedia celebrating Pride Month organized by an LGBT editor group, has produced hundreds of articles after promising cash prizes to editors. The event has been heavily promoted outside Wikipedia, including by the Wikimedia Foundation that owns the site. Promotion of the event happened in the same month site co-founder Larry Sanger was banned for similar conduct that editors claimed advanced right-wing views.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, selected Bernadette Meehan, a former Obama Foundation executive and Ambassador to Chile for Joe Biden, as its new CEO last year. Shortly after her selection, editors found the Wikipedia article on Meehan was created in early 2015 by an account later banned on suspicion of undisclosed paid editing, a violation of the site’s Terms of Use. In an interview with an in-house newsletter, Meehan denied knowledge of the account.

Wikipedia’s article about the tribute song “We Are Charlie Kirk” was included in the front page’s “Did you know” section in mid-May after receiving “Good article” status, one of the site’s highest quality rankings. Its front page entry noted an outlet calling it the “worst song” of 2025. The Wikipedia article about the song memorializing Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk following his assassination last year denigrates conservatives who appreciated the song’s tribute to Kirk with particular focus on its suspected AI origins.

Following Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger’s ban from the site he helped establish and sought to reform, site editors took to maligning him on his personal discussion page in what is commonly called “grave-dancing” on Wikipedia. Some editors argued Sanger’s proposed reforms should be discarded with his ban. Other editors expressing support for Sanger received mocking responses, including comments related to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year.

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, stormed out of a German podcast interview Friday after being questioned on a long-running dispute over his “founder” status, which he has invoked in editing disputes and when promoting for-profit ventures using the “wiki” name. Wales has long objected to co-founder and site critic Larry Sanger’s claim to having also been a founder of the online encyclopedia. The clip of the live interview, which lasted less than a minute, soon went viral on social media.

In a recent interview, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales was confronted about the site claiming Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Wales rejected this as biased and requested changes at the “Gaza genocide” article’s discussion page. Editors attacked Wales with some accusing him of ties to Israel or suggesting sanctions, such as removing his “founder” flag. Some sought action regarding a neutrality working group set up by the site’s owners, a working group he chairs.

An admin for the Serbian Wikipedia who holds “checkuser” privileges on that site, which grants him access to confidential user data, confirmed earlier this year that he has edited for pay, including on the English Wikipedia. Claiming he never misused his data access, the disclosure about his paid editing work has nonetheless sparked an ongoing discussion about the propriety of such users doing paid work on the site.

A Wikipedia article created earlier this year about the term “adult human female” characterizes it as “hate speech” against transgender individuals. The page, created by an editor who has smeared numerous conservative figures, was added last month to a navigation box about President Donald Trump’s second term that is included on hundreds of articles and connects the term to claimed “persecution” of transgender individuals under Trump.

Earlier this month, the Wikimedia Foundation that owns Wikipedia rejected candidates in community elections for its Board of Trustees, sparking a community revolt. One rejected candidate was Iraqi national Ravan Jaafar Al-Taie, who made numerous anti-Israeli posts. After community-elected board member Victoria Doronina publicly linked the posts to the rejection, Al-Taie filed a conduct complaint against Doronina, who later apologized and announced she was suspending most board activities until the end of the year.

Last week, a gunman who declared himself an “anti-contact non-offending” pedophile rushed the stage at WikiConference North America in New York City and threatened to kill himself in protest over the Wikipedia child protection policy, which bans self-identified pedophiles. A member of the site’s Arbitration Committee, often likened to a Supreme Court, claimed the gunman is Connor Weston, who was banned earlier this year under the aforementioned policy.

The House Oversight Committee submitted an information request to the Wikimedia Foundation that owns Wikipedia in August with a deadline of September 10 for providing requested documents, with which the Foundation has failed to comply with according to Jewish News Syndicate citing a press assistant for one Committee member. Republicans on the Committee are investigating bias, particularly anti-Israeli bias, at the online encyclopedia.

A Polish Wikipedia editor earlier this year complained about religious discrimination to a committee that enforces the “code of conduct” imposed by the Wikimedia Foundation that owns Wikipedia. The editor expressed opposition to LGBT ideology, citing Bible verses condemning it in his profile on a Discord Wikipedia chat group, prompting mockery and insults from others. Members of the committee rejected his claims and suggested instead the Bible verses were a violation.

Following reports of former New York Times editor and the Free Press founder Bari Weiss being appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News, editors on Wikipedia began negatively slanting her page and those of CBS and the Free Press. This includes attempting to label Weiss as right-wing and slanted edits about a CBS settlement with President Donald Trump. Some suggested blacklisting CBS as a source in the future.

In an interview with Jan Jekielek of the Epoch Times that aired this week, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger announced plans to circulate a letter of protest among prominent individuals and groups harmed by Wikipedia before sending to the Wikimedia Foundation that owns the site. He further suggested such a letter could be sent to U.S. government officials and other governments to press for reform at the online encyclopedia.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, last week rejected two Board of Trustees candidates during its community elections allowing regular contributors to directly choose board representatives. Its purported rationale included one candidate’s involvement with a major community newsletter and another’s social media comments attacking Israel. The rejections provoked community outrage, including from former board members and staff. Petitions and statements opposing the decision, some blaming Israeli and United States government pressure, generally pledged to boycott the election.

Following the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk one month ago today, Wikipedia editors responded by smearing Kirk across multiple articles even as tens of millions viewed the pages and high-level site leaders monitored them. Such smears included editors labeling Kirk far-right both openly and surreptitiously, in one case prompting Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to call Wikipedia “wicked” on social media. Editors also advocated labeling Trumpism as fascism in response.

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger early last week published his “nine theses” to fix the online encyclopedia on his blog and Wikipedia itself. His collection of essays on Wikipedia criticizing the site was subsequently subjected to multiple deletion attempts with editors

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) sent a letter Friday to Maryana Iskander, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation which owns Wikipedia, requesting information about the site’s reported political bias. Cruz cited the ongoing purge of conservative media on the online encyclopedia and other bias concerns, following a viral interview commentator Tucker Carlson did with Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger last week where they discussed the site blacklisting conservative sources, including Breitbart.

The Signpost, the main community newsletter on Wikipedia, noted a recent Tablet Magazine article by journalist Ashley Rindsberg in its “In the media” section. Reporting how Wikipedia smeared Zionism, Rindsberg’s piece noted previously-reported names of two prominent pro-Palestinian editors involved. A member of Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee, often likened to a Supreme Court, removed the report with public site records of it deleted. A former Committee member claimed violations of the site’s doxing policy.

Earlier this week, commentator Tucker Carlson’s podcast aired an interview with Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger where he discussed his criticism of the online encyclopedia and introduced his “nine theses” advocating reform. Describing the site as a “mixture of oligarchy and anarchy” during the interview, Sanger criticized many issues he identified with Wikipedia since his departure from the site.

Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, has come out with his heaviest criticism of the online encyclopedia yet, accompanied by a call to reform. In nine theses published to his blog and Wikipedia itself, Sanger outlines proposals for reform with essays describing and analyzing the myriad problems with the site since his departure in 2002, including the purging of conservative media through a sourcing blacklist.

Shortly after the memorial service for slain Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, which a TPUSA executive called the largest memorial service in history, Wikipedia editors created a page about the service. A few days later, a left-wing editor nominated the page for deletion with discussion soon becoming divided, both sides noting pages on services for other public figures. Editors also smeared speakers at the memorial, some invoking comparisons to Nazi Germany.

Following the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, Wikipedia editors made malicious edits about him, even as his page was locked to inexperienced editors with former members of Wikipedia’s “Supreme Court” and co-founder Jimmy Wales monitoring Kirk’s page. This included mocking Kirk’s last words and accusing him of targeted harassment campaigns, the latter staying in the page’s introduction for days.

A discussion regarding the Wikipedia article on allegations Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip was closed over the weekend in favor of stating the allegations as fact. The proposal received significant support from pro-Palestinian and socialist editors, but other editors noted a recent discussion had already ruled against claiming genocide as fact. 

Following a failed effort to delete the page about the killing of Ukrainian war refugee Iryna Zarutska last week, admins on Wikipedia blocked all non-admin editing to prevent mentioning suspect Decarlos Brown Jr.’s name before finally the lock was downgraded to allow experienced editors. This came after the deletion attempt was heavily criticized on social media, including by House Representative Andy Biggs, who serves on the Oversight Committee currently investigating the online encyclopedia’s political bias.

An article on Wikipedia about the growing scandal over Pakistani-heritage grooming gangs targeting young white women in the United Kingdom and politically-correct government cover-ups of their crimes was nominated for deletion last week by Simon McNeil, a Marxist socialist and science fiction author from Canada who edits as “Simonm223” on the online encyclopedia. He claimed the article was a biased split of the article on child sexual abuse in the UK pushing a “fringe” view. McNeil was criticized on social media for the move, many noting a blog post he wrote that supported exposing children to sexual kinks and fetishes at Pride marches.

On the front page of Wikipedia last week, the prominent “Did you know” section promoted an article about the “fuck tree” in North London. Reputedly a popular spot gay people use when “cruising” for casual sex, the article on the tree at the time it appeared on the front page included evocative sexual descriptions and explicit mentions of sexual conduct.

A discussion last week on deleting the Wikipedia article “Destruction of Israel in Iranian policy” after Israel began its air campaign against Iran was closed by an admin Sunday with a decision to “merge” the page into one on Iran-Israel relations. The decision came despite a majority of editors being opposed to the page’s removal.

Shortly after Israel began its military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear program and its military, editors on Wikipedia proposed deleting the article “Destruction of Israel in Iranian policy” linked from the military operation page, as the Iranian policy is a key component of Israel’s justification of the operation. Discussion is bitterly divided between those advocating deletion of the page or merging it into other articles and those arguing for keeping the page.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that owns Wikipedia, introduced new account security requirements for users with certain advanced privileges on May 20 in response to a recent hacking incident that compromised over 35,000 accounts. However, the requirement was undone and its rollout delayed after the Foundation learned that it had failed to inform some impacted users of the new security steps.

Wikipedia editors rushing to edit the page of newly-selected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost, made repeated bungles with typos of his name in the title, duplicate banners, and frequently undoing each other’s changes by accident. At one point this led to a duplicate article titled “Pope Leon XIIV” being created in the confusion. Editors also repeatedly fought over how to describe his nationality given his dual American-Peruvian citizenship.

The Foundation that owns Wikipedia is preparing to require two-factor authentication for users with significant privileges starting in late May.

The Wikimedia Foundation, owners of Wikipedia, formed a working group focused on neutrality policy at the end of March with site co-founder Jimmy Wales as chair. Its objective will be to study the neutrality policies in place on different-language Wikipedias and other Foundation-owned sites to develop a global standard. Although citing various left-wing concerns about neutrality, the Foundation omitted any reference to the site’s own leftist political bias.