The co-founder of Wikipedia laments that the website can no longer be trusted. Although the website may have never been considered a “primary source” in English class, co-founder Larry Sanger warns it has veered well off its intended path.
Sanger states it has become “propaganda” for the left-leaning “establishment.” In an interview with Sanger on UnHerd’s Lockdown TV, he said he started the “encyclopedia of opinion” in 2001 in order to offer true neutrality and be a place for “multiple points of view” on “hot button issues.”
However, much like the majority of online platforms, Sanger says conservative voices are “sternly warned if not kicked out” if they attempt to add an opinion different from the establishment views. “You can’t cite Fox News on socio-political issues. It’s just banned now” he stated as an example of silencing conservative perspectives.
“It means that if a controversy does not appear in the mainstream center-left media, then it’s not going to appear on Wikipedia.” Now, the site is only valuable for people to go to if they want “an establishment point of view” instead of the intended diverse camps of thought.
Sanger had an incredibly insightful explanation as to how the internet became so dangerous. “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.”
Sanger also said the usage of dedicated PR companies to influence listings is among “all sorts of tricks people can play to win it.” “It” being the “very big, nasty, complex game being played behind the scenes to make the article say what somebody wants them to say.”
Sanger noted that only a short paragraph on the Ukraine Scandal involving President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden remains on the site despite the political outrage it created. “Very little of that can be found in Wikipedia. And what little can be found is extremely biased and reads like a defense counsel’s brief.”
In addition to politics, the site only reflects “establishment mouthpieces” such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and government health groups in its coverage of COVID-19, which Sanger is “amazing to me as a libertarian, or a liberty-loving conservative.”
