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(Video Credit: Fox News)
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, who jumped ship over a decade ago, is beyond disgusted with the site and its current leadership who have ostensibly allowed leftist media and political operatives to destroy the user-edited online encyclopedia he worked so hard to build.
Sanger gave an interview on Fox Nation’s “Tucker Carlson Today,” detailing the site’s devolvement and his consensus with critics who claim that the database has primarily become a compilation of left-wing advocacy essays. He recalled the beginning of the venture and how in the early years there was an actual commitment to neutrality. He also stated that he believes his degree in philosophy helped him shape the site.
“We promulgated a policy, the neutrality policy. And it was very clear in the beginning. And I think I really hammered it a lot. In the two years that I was with the organization, I really drove that neutrality policy. And I articulated a defense,” Sanger claimed.
When he removed his oversight from the company and departed, Sanger contended his “influence was forgotten and it just gradually became watered down.”
A snippet of Tucker’s interview with me from yesterday. https://t.co/Wbv7rb9ye4
— Larry Sanger (@lsanger) March 30, 2022
“There isn’t an open system anymore,” he asserted, “and therefore, the kinds of people that are allowed to have any influence on Wikipedia have been narrowed down greatly to essentially people who agree with the establishment left.”
Wikipedia used to claim that “anyone can edit,” opening it up to contributions from all. Over the years, the site’s validity has been mocked for its lack of reliability. It is the 13th most popular website in the world according to Alexa’s web rankings. But the leftist ideology injected into the database is evident with pages on socialism and communism being prime examples of it.
“The left, frankly, is relentless when it comes to stating their point of view and using the organs of mass media and Wikipedia is part of their mass media I think to shape the world,” Sanger noted. “And so it became another one of the institutions that they had to capture.”
Amazing how many topics are controversial…
— Larry Sanger (@lsanger) March 31, 2022
Back in July of 2021, Sanger stated, “Wikipedia seems to assume that there is only one legitimate defensible version of the truth on any controversial question. That’s not how Wikipedia used to be.”
“If only one version of the facts is allowed then that gives a huge incentive to wealthy and powerful people to seize control of things like Wikipedia in order to shore up their power. And they do that,” he charged.
“Wikipedia, like many other deeply biased institutions of our brave new digital world, has made itself into a kind of thought police that has de facto shackled conservative viewpoints with which they disagree. Democracy cannot thrive under such conditions: I maintain that Wikipedia has become an opponent of vigorous democracy,” Sanger bluntly contended.
Wikipedia is less credible today than it was twelve years ago, at least on topics of any socio-political import (and it's not always clear to non-specialists which topics those are). Will it become even less credible in the future? Hard to say. pic.twitter.com/vuPoI8QihA
— Larry Sanger (@lsanger) March 31, 2022
A recent stark example of the manipulation of Wikipedia involves SCOTUS nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. A former law clerk named Matteo Godi was caught editing her Wikipedia page to “paint her in a more favorable light for a liberal audience” while altering those of her Supreme Court vacancy competitors to make them look worse.
That is just one example. Many high-profile conservatives have also reportedly had their pages modified to one extent or another. To date, it is hard to discern what is factual on the site and what isn’t but it appears to have skewed severely to the left.
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9 thoughts on “Wikipedia co-founder blames biased left and its ‘relentless’ takeover of media for ruining the site”
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I too see the bias on Wikipedia. I use it solely to get basic information. Google the same way. I use duckduck Go for the search engine which helps to avoid some junk.
Everything gets corrupted by the left.
Even the 2020 election insurrection. November can’t come soon enough.
I often search for information on the legitimacy of a site. Often it is described a right wing or a propaganda site. I have NEVER read the description of any site as being LEFT wing. Not once.
Great point
Normal people don’t use WICKEDpedia!
You`re a day late, and, a dollar short, Larry, as, your information site has always been corrupted by leftist entries. Now that the underbelly and true goals of leftists have been exposed, your attempt to distance yourself from what you created is not credible.
I have an expertise in a specific area. I tried to edit my area’s entry, and my contributions were simply ignored.
I noticed some time ago that Wikipedia was fluffing things like the Bidens. Stopped using it.
Americans have nothing but biased and left wing propaganda from 95% of news and information providers. All the mainstream media, TV, Cable, Newspapers, Academia, Social medias, High tech, Magazines, Wikipedia are all Left Wing outlets, perpetuating the Democrats agenda and talking points. Only a few outlets like FOX, OAN, Newsmax, radio, and a few others give the right side of any argument. Most Americans therefore watch and believe the propaganda they are being fed 24/7 by the corrupt and colluding mainstream media, Democrats in Congress and the White House. It is hard for Americans to hear the Republican or Conservative views, they are blocked out, censored or not reported at all. We live in a very corrupt country- that I am ashamed of where it is today – thanks to Democrats-and am sorry I served 2 tours in Vietnam for the America I loved – to see it turn into the corrupt, violent, lawless, and out of control country it is today.
Each and everyone of us can work to offset the misinformation (i.e. lies) propagated by the Left by simply speaking the facts to those who only get their information from the corrupted media. Believe me, it can be a tough row to hoe, but it may be the only solution to turn this mess around and come out sane.