Wikipedia Isn’t Censoring Conservative Journalists
The Claim
Wikipedia editors, due to their left-aligned bias, censor conservative websites.
News posted on
Emerging story
Origin: On August 31, 2020, Breitbart posted an article about Wikipedia discussing the validity of right-leaning news outlet The Post Millennial.
The editors of a Wikipedia article allegedly insulted Andy Ngo, a conservative journalist, by referring to him as a “right-wing troll.”
The claim soon went viral on social media.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that the claim comes from a misunderstanding of how Wikipedia works. While everyone can write for Wikipedia, there is a strict set of rules. Some sources can be used, and some cannot. In this case, some editors discussed whether or not they should consider the Post Millennial to be unreliable, as they have released fake news in the past. After an exhaustive argument, the consensus was that the Post Millennial is unreliable, as they do not revise mistakes at an appropriate level. The editors of Wikipedia hardly came to a consensus on this matter, which shows that there is no “shadow leadership” of the online encyclopedia.
Some believe that Wikipedia has been leaning more left lately in an attempt to advocate for racial justice.
However, many left-wing websites are also listed as unreliable sources on Wikipedia, while some right-wing sources are reliable. As far as insulting Ngo is concerned, the career section of his page once quoted a Rolling Stone article that referred to him as a “troll.” The editors decided to omit that section.
