![\"wikipropaganda.jpg\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/media\/images\/wikipropaganda.jpg\" "\\"wikipropaganda.jpg\\"")
<\/p>\nvia Swiss Propaganda Research
\nWikipedia is generally thought of as an open, transparent, and mostly reliable online encyclopedia. Yet upon closer inspection, this turns out not to be the case.<\/p>\n
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In fact, the English Wikipedia with its 9 billion worldwide page views per month is governed<\/a> by just 500 active administrators, whose real identity in many cases remains unknown.<\/p>\n Moreover, studies have shown that 80% of all Wikipedia content is written<\/a> by just 1% of all Wikipedia editors, which again amounts to just a few hundred mostly unknown people.<\/p>\n Obviously, such a non-transparent and hierarchical structure is susceptible to corruption and manipulation, the notorious \u201cpaid editors\u201d hired by corporations being just one example.<\/p>\n Indeed, already in 2007, researchers found that CIA and FBI employees were editing<\/a> Wikipedia articles on controversial topics including the Iraq war and the Guantanamo military prison.<\/p>\n Also in 2007, researchers found that one of the most active and influential English Wikipedia administrators, called \u201cSlim Virgin\u201d, was in fact a former British intelligence<\/a> informer.<\/p>\n More recently, another highly prolific Wikipedia editor going by the false name of \u201cPhilip Cross<\/a>\u201d turned out to be linked to UK intelligence as well as several mainstream media journalists<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Germany, one of the most aggressive Wikipedia editors was exposed<\/a>, after a two-year legal battle, as a political operative formerly serving in the Israeli army as a foreign volunteer.<\/p>\n Even in Switzerland, unidentified government employees were caught whitewashing Wikipedia entries<\/a> about the Swiss secret service just prior to a public referendum about the agency.<\/p>\n Many of these Wikipedia personae are editing articles almost all day and every day, indicating<\/a> that they are either highly dedicated individuals, or in fact, operated by a group of people.<\/p>\n In addition, articles edited by these personae cannot easily be revised, since the above-mentioned administrators<\/a> can always revert changes or simply block disagreeing users altogether.<\/p>\n The primary goal of these covert campaigns appears to be<\/a>\u00a0pushing Western and Israeli government<\/a>\u00a0positions while destroying the reputation of independent journalists and politicians.<\/p>\n Articles most affected by this kind of manipulation include political, geopolitical and certain historical topics as well as biographies of non-conformist academics, journalists, and politicians.<\/p>\n Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, a friend<\/a> of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a \u201cYoung Leader<\/a>\u201d of the Davos forum, has repeatedly defended<\/a> these operations.<\/p>\n Speaking of Davos, Wikimedia has itself amassed a fortune<\/a> of more than $160 million, donated in large part not by lazy students, but by major US corporations<\/a> and influential foundations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Moreover, US social media and video platforms are increasingly referring<\/a> to Wikipedia to frame or combat \u201ccontroversial\u201d topics. The revelations discussed above may perhaps help explain why.<\/p>\n Already NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed<\/a> how spooks manipulate online debates, and more recently, a senior Twitter executive turned out<\/a> to be a British Army \u201cpsyops\u201d officer.<\/p>\n