Two United States House Republicans launched a probe into what they claim are organized efforts to insert biases into Wikipedia entries, and how Wikipedia might have responded to those alleged efforts. The two representatives, James Comer of Kentucky and Nancy Mace of South Carolina, wrote to the Wikimedia Foundation that their inquiry seeks to investigate “foreign operations and individuals at academic institutions subsidized by U.S. taxpayer dollars to influence U.S. public opinion.”
Comer is the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, while Mace is the chair of its subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation.
Their probe seeks to understand how Wikipedia’s editors and publishers respond to instances where coordinated campaigns to influence information might be suspected, and also how such campaigns might be identified in the first place.
House Republican probe
The probe follows accusations from at least two advocacy groups — the Anti-Defamation League, which alleges a campaign to advance anti-Israel views and shape narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Atlantic Council, which alleges organized Russian propaganda to promote pro-Kremlin views while smearing Ukraine and its Western allies.
The letter explained, as reported by The Hill: “The Committee recognizes that virtually all web-based information platforms must contend with bad actors and their efforts to manipulate [information]. Our inquiry seeks information to help our examination of how Wikipedia responds to such threats and how frequently it creates accountability when intentional, egregious, or highly suspicious patterns of conduct on topics of sensitive public interest are brought to attention.”
Among other items, the Republicans expressed concerns regarding the possibility that some articles had been edited by — or in coordination with — foreign state actors, and how Wikipedia might have reviewed and responded to those instances, if they did occur.
Integrity of information
Compounding those concerns, experts say, is the rise of AI chatbots and text aggregators, many of which rely on Wikipedia as an information source. If a malicious actor were to deliberately corrupt Wikipedia articles, that might, in turn, influence information that AI chatbots and aggregators then distribute to an even wider audience.
It’s an evolving risk that Wikipedia itself already seems to be aware of. The Wikimedia Foundation confirmed it received the letter of inquiry and welcomed the opportunity “to discuss the importance of safeguarding the integrity of information on our platform” with House members, according to a spokesperson.
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Author: Matt Bishop
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