Larry Sanger

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.

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.

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.

Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia, was banned indefinitely this week from the site he helped establish in what one editor likened to a “show trial” over Sanger’s efforts to form a group on the site that would advocate for policy reforms promoting intellectual diversity. Leftist editors accused him of attempting to rig discussion about the group after he discussed it on social media and in a news interview.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger told Tucker Carlson during Monday’s episode of The Tucker Carlson Show that anyone can easily look up a list of Wikipedia’s blacklisted sources. Breitbart News features prominently on the list of media outlets that users are forbidden from citing when editing articles on the leftist “encyclopedia.”

After Acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin sent a letter last week to the foundation that owns Wikipedia raising questions regarding the online encyclopedia’s political bias, editors made repeated attacks against Martin on the site. Editors also attacked Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger and Elon Musk due to their criticism of the site’s left-wing bias.

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, recently gave up his administrative privileges on the online encyclopedia after a request to review his conduct was brought before the site’s Arbitration Committee, often likened to a supreme court. The request concerned Wales publicly accusing a former member of the Committee of being involved with a paid editing scam without properly vetting the claims beforehand. Wales still retains limited privileges under his “founder” role.

In an interview Thursday for Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger stated he was embarrassed about helping found the site given its increasing left-wing bias. Noting it helps shape the understanding many Americans have of the world, Carlson asked Sanger what could be done to fix the problems on Wikipedia, but Sanger doubted it was possible to fix the site from the inside. He instead argued for creating alternative sources, noting his most recent effort: the Encyclosphere.

Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia, has come under fire from the site’s editors over his criticism of the site’s left-wing bias. His criticism particularly cited an ongoing purge of conservative media on the site. While some editors tried to dispute his claims, others have smeared Sanger with accusations of antisemitism and trafficking in conspiracy theories to discredit him. Editors have also kept mention of his criticism of left-wing bias out of Wikipedia articles on the topic, due to such criticism being covered mainly in conservative media.

Conservative media have been subject to an ongoing purge on Wikipedia since Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential election. Originally, this only banned their use for factual claims with continued use permitted for citing opinions, but a policy change early last year significantly curtailed even this exemption without any discussion supporting the change, in defiance of normal practice. The change was made by Guy Chapman, a Wikipedia administrator notorious for political bias who has played a pivotal role in the sourcing purge.

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger published a blog post last week analyzing the site’s left-wing bias. Examining articles about Donald Trump’s impeachments, the Black Lives Matter protests and riots, Joe Biden’s scandals, and the 2020 election, Sanger argued Wikipedia’s coverage is so extremely left-wing that it constitutes propaganda. He partly blamed an ongoing purge of conservative news sources on Wikipedia which includes Breitbart News. Sanger warned these developments made Wikipedia “a kind of thought police” and “an opponent of vigorous democracy.”

A Washington Post article published this week criticizes bias in political science articles on Wikipedia. However, rather than attacking the left-wing bias afflicting political articles, the author argues instead the problem is articles not citing enough female authors and academics. The author, Samuel Baltz, boasted of trying to fix this “bias” by expanding coverage of women in political articles, while otherwise celebrating Wikipedia’s “political and ideological neutrality” in its coverage.

An article about Wikipedia published last Thursday on the Fox News website examined the left-wing bias of the online encyclopedia. Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, stated in an interview for the article: “The days of Wikipedia’s robust commitment to neutrality are long gone.” Fox also interviewed economics professor Bryan Caplan regarding the slanted coverage of communism and socialism on their Wikipedia pages, notably the omission of atrocities carried out by communist governments.

Multiple academic studies and critical analyses of Wikipedia have pointed towards the site’s left-wing bias. The findings include its content being more left-leaning than Encyclopedia Britannica and left-leaning editors being more active and partisan than right-leaning editors. Left-wing outlets have been found to be the top-cited sources and represent most citations on articles about American politicians, and right-leaning editors have at the same time been found to be six times more likely to face sanctions.

In a piece for British magazine the Critic, American academics analyzed evidence of left-wing bias on Wikipedia. Noting research into Wikipedia’s left-wing bias and its increasing bans of conservative media, the authors point to a greater sign of bias: the enforcement of site policies on major political topics by administrators with special privileges on the site. They find in their analysis that editors favoring right-leaning views were six times more likely to be sanctioned than those favoring left-leaning views.

In a decision last month by Wikipedia’s community, statements in “userboxes” on editor profile pages were no longer allowed if they expressed or implied opposition to gay marriage. Breitbart’s coverage of the decision prompted Christian media and organizations, as well as family groups, to condemn Wikipedia for censoring the views of traditional marriage supporters.

After riots over the death of George Floyd in police custody prompted renewed attention to the violent far-left group Antifa, editors on Wikipedia sought to keep out or minimize any mention of Antifa’s involvement in rioting as part of the group’s page on the site. Material about past Antifa violence was also removed and an effort has been made to soften or remove the description of Antifa as a far-left militant group.

Facebook is testing a new feature that integrates Wikipedia pages in Facebook search results. Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger admitted in May that the popular open collaboration encyclopedia is riddled with leftist bias.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, last Wednesday joined the chorus of companies organizations supporting the Black Lives Matter movement following the police-involved death of George Floyd. In its announcement, the Foundation stated there was “no neutral stance” on racial justice. They further committed to making Wikipedia and other Foundation-owned sites more “inclusive” through measures such as a  “universal code of conduct” the Foundation Board recently demanded.

Even as the criticism of Wikipedia’s left-wing political bias intensifies, including from the site’s co-founder Larry Sanger, the major tech platforms continue to use the online encyclopedia in their services and rely on it as a model for addressing “fake news” concerns. Rather than improving their services, the integration of Wikipedia into Big Tech platforms has, instead, made them disseminate false or biased information.

Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia, published a blog post this month declaring that the online encyclopedia’s “neutral point of view” policy is “dead” due to the rampant left-wing bias of the site. Noting the article on President Donald Trump, Sanger contrasted its extensive coverage of presidential scandals with the largely scandal-free article on former President Barack Obama.