Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently criticized Wikipedia by stating that the free online encyclopedia is losing its objectivity, enraging the online encyclopedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. After Musk pointed out the fact that Wikipedia editors have significantly changed the definition of a recession to protect the Biden administration, Wales replied, “reading too much Twitter nonsense is making you stupid.”
The Biden administration has attempted to change the conventional definition of “recession” after the U.S. posted two straight quarters of negative GDP growth. Social media platforms like Facebook have even attempted to “fact check” economic experts who have pointed out that by most standards, the country is now in a recession. The conflict has spread to Wikipedia where editors are attempting to cover up for the Biden administration, with the page for “recession” being edited dozens of times and administrators locking the page down. Some Twitter users pointed out that the now un-editable definition of “recession” appears to favor Democrats and the Biden administration.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales ( Jamie McCarthy /Getty)
President Joe Biden (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Wikipedia has changed the definition of recession.
Wayback's last capture was July 11, 2022.
Based on Wiki's changelog, the line: "There is no global consensus on the definition of a recession" was added on July 27.
The page is now locked. pic.twitter.com/6tx1vPHEPM
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 28, 2022
Correct! Specifically, the most important change, memory-holing the oft-used "two quarters" rubric was made on the very day that the first 1Q GDP decline estimate was released. Huh. https://t.co/p0Cxpidapa
— stevemur (@stevemur) July 29, 2022
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to criticize Wikipedia for seeming to lose its objectivity. Musk tagged Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales and warned him that the online encyclopedia was slowly losing its integrity, although Breitbart News’ reporting on the online encyclopedia shows that this is not a new occurrence:
Wikipedia is losing its objectivity @jimmy_wales
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2022
Wales responded to Musk that “reading too much Twitter nonsense is making you stupid.”
Elon kindly take a moment to read this: https://t.co/8MydQ8SNyW
Reading too much Twitter nonsense is making you stupid. Call me next week if you want a real discussion. @elonmusk
— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) July 29, 2022
Others pointed out that Musk is far from the first person to question Wikipedia’s bias in recent years, with the website’s own co-founder previously raising concerns about the issue.
Your cofounder has also criticized Wikipedia’s bias. Rather then condescendingly writing off criticisms from @elonmusk perhaps you should heed the warning while your site’s reputation still has a chance of being salvaged. https://t.co/5gZnBlA2Ma
— The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) July 30, 2022
What would I have to be frustrated about? The claim is obviously ridiculous and I said so. End of.
— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) July 30, 2022
Breitbart News previously reported in 2020 that Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger published a blog post stating that the online encyclopedia’s “neutral point of view” policy is “dead” due to left-wing bias on the site.
Breitbart News reported:
On May 14, Sanger published a blog piece titled “Wikipedia Is Badly Biased” and started by declaring Wikipedia’s “Neutral Point of View” policy dead. Having founded the online encyclopedia with Jimmy Wales and having been involved in the original drafting of the policy, Sanger offered particular insight into its development and its practice in recent years. On the current policy’s rejection of providing “equal validity” to different views, Sanger stated this went directly against the original policy’s intent and that “as journalists turn to opinion and activism, Wikipedia now touts controversial points of view on politics, religion, and science.”
Providing examples, Sanger noted former President Obama’s article excludes most notable scandals during his Administration, such as the bungled ATF Fast and Furious operation that armed Mexican cartels who killed a U.S. border agent or the targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS. By contrast, Sanger pointed to Trump’s article containing overwhelmingly negative sections on the President regarding his “public profile” as well as investigations and impeachment. The sections critical of Trump and his presidency are nearly as long as those dealing with his presidency overall. He further criticized Wikipedia repeatedly saying Trump makes false statements rather than attributing such characterizations to sources.
Wikipedia’s moderation issues have become increasingly laughable, with one editor being banned for criticizing the use of the word “tree” as a personal pronoun. Breitbart News reported:
The Wikipedia page for actor Keiynan Lonsdale became a battlefield in the fight over “preferred pronouns” due to a Twitter thread noting Lonsdale once suggested “tree” as his preferred pronoun. Despite doubts about Lonsdale’s sincerity, editors repeatedly changed the male pronouns on his article to “tree” this past week until an editor sought a compromise by removing pronouns entirely. One editor who criticized the move and denigrated the idea of “tree” as a pronoun was banned for a week.
Breitbart News will continue to report on Wikipedia’s leftist bias.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
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