Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Next issue/In the media
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Will you be targeted?
Optional: write a lede — not necessarily a WP:LEAD. Interesting > encyclopedic.
Heritage Foundation plans to identify and target Wikipedia editors?
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An exclusive report by investigative journalist Arno Rosenfeld for The Forward has revealed that the Heritage Foundation elaborated a plan to "identify and target" Wikipedia editors who the group says are "abusing their position" by publishing content the group believes to be antisemitic, although it's not exactly clear what kind of antisemitism this effort is intended to address. According to the report, which has later been quoted by Gizmodo, the plan includes using facial recognition software and information from database breaches (including usernames and passwords), applying natural language processing to find "style, repeated phrases, and content patterns", creating fake accounts to trick other editors, and other means to detect coordinated editing.
Although it's not possible to determine whether the Heritage Foundation has already started the scheme, the slide deck shared by The Forward, titled "Wikipedia Editor Targeting", is still worth examining in detail. Under the heading "Technical Fingerprinting (Controlled Domain Redirects)", it states that the group will use "Controlled Links: Use redirects to capture IP addresses, browser fingerprints, and device data through a combination of in-browser fingerprinting scripts and HTML5 canvas techniques." They also will use "Technical Data Collection: Track geolocation, ISP, and network details from clicked links."
Under the heading "Online Human Intelligence (HUMINT)", the group proposes "Persona Engagement: Engage curated sock puppet accounts to reveal patterns and provoke reactions, information disclosure", as well as "Behavioral Manipulation: Push specific topics to expose more identity related details" and "Cross-Community Targeting: Interact across platforms to gather intelligence from other sources."
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank that, despite being already known for its highly-influential role in the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, has most recently returned to the spotlight for masterminding Project 2025, a controversial political blueprint for the incumbent Trump administration. In this case, however, the leaked pitch deck for the Wikipedia initiative was reportedly sent to prospective donors of Project Esther, an alleged plan to fight antisemitism and anti-Zionism, which has already faced criticism for failing to address antisemitism by right-wing figures, and seemingly recycling antisemitic tropes itself.
The Heritage Foundation has apparently been involved in a related case of rule-breaking on Wikipedia before. A 2017 sockpuppet investigation specifically centered on the think tank's article, and ended with the ban of five editors, ObjectivityAlways, Orthodox2014, LambdaChi, PAWiki, and MiamiDolphins3, who all had edited the Heritage Foundation article. Four of these editors had all registered over a short period in 2006.
ObjectivityAlways edited the page 168 times, the second most of any editor: their edits on the article include aggressive reversions of other editors, rearranging sections, basic housekeeping tasks, and whitewashing. For instance, they stated that Heritage is not affiliated with a political party, while removing a category that suggested the opposite. Orthodox2014 made 18 different edits to the article in February 2017, being more aggressive in reverting other editors and whitewashing the article than ObjectivityAlways had been.
Over twenty other editors were banned as apparent sockpuppets after editing the same article. Since most of these editors made five or fewer edits, it is difficult to say if they were supporters of Heritage; we estimate that about half could be considered "pro-Heritage". We remind readers that, based solely on Wikipedia's editing records, it's impossible to fully identify an editor or their employer: the editor may simply be trying to embarrass the subject of the article.
The Forward article quoted the reactions of Wikipedia users Tamzin and GorillaWarfare: the former stated the methods proposed by the slide deck were well-known by Wikipedia editors, saying quote, "It's scary they want to do this, but it’s not a 'zero-day'". GorillaWarfare said that "the document is sort of vague about what they would do once they ID a person, but the things that come to mind are not great."
Both the Heritage Foundation and the Wikimedia Foundation have declined to comment to both The Forward and Gizmodo. However, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales did respond personally to some of the concerns raised by users in a Village Pump discussion:
Well, I fully agree that developments in terms of arguments and actions aimed at destroying trust in knowledge (and of course our specific interest, trust in Wikipedia) are extremely worrisome, particularly as I agree that for many who are doing it, the motive does appears to be the undermining of civic norms and democracy. I also agree with Tryptofish in a part that you didn't quote: "In a narrow sense, it's technically true that if you 'out' yourself, there's no point in anyone else doing it. But once your identity is known, you become vulnerable to all of the kinds of real-life harassment that doxed people find themselves subjected to. It doesn't matter, in that regard, how they found out your identity." That's a sad balancing act that no Wikipedian should have to face.
As a side note, I don't think that the reliability of the Heritage Foundation as a source is particularly related to these despicable actions. Whether they should be considered a reliable source in some matters is really unrelated to whether they hate us or not.
The Forward report has come to fruition while three volunteer Wikipedia editors are still directly involved in the ongoing court case between Asian News International and the WMF over at the Delhi High Court – see previous Signpost coverage here and here. – B, S, O
Elon Musk, Wokepedia, and all that jazz
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Elon Musk’s ongoing critique of Wikipedia continues to spark a media frenzy, with coverage from Newsweek, Newsmax, The New York Post, and Times of India, among others. Musk has accused the platform of being "woke" and discouraged donations, citing its DEI initiatives. His remarks also reignited his $1 billion joke offer to rename Wikipedia, prompting responses across X (see previous Signpost coverage). Snopes verified these events, while Daily Kos and The Philadelphia Inquirer examined how Musk’s criticisms align with broader right-wing media narratives targeting Wikipedia's perceived political leanings.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera also reported on the subject (in Italian, behind a pay-wall), noting that many users on X, as well as Threads and Bluesky, responded to Musk's taunt by inviting others to actually donate to Wikipedia. The Corriere also acknowledged the existence of the article about Ideological bias on Wikipedia, while reminding that Wikipedia is a collaborative platform where "transparency is a fundamental place to start from, but does not resolve every controversy", and that the presence of cognitive bias and prejudice stems from the behavior of users who actively edit pages, rather than the encyclopedia itself. – B, O
In brief
[edit]- Cambridge Bay, Nunavut grandpa: CBC News interviewed Wikipedia user Alan Sim, aka CambridgeBayWeather, an admin on en.wiki since 2005 with over 250,000 edits under his belt, who lives - where else? - in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut and contributes articles about Northern Canada such as Kátł'odeeche First Nation and every airport in the region. Having moved to Canada in 1978 from the UK, Sim edits because he "just enjoys it."
- I see your true cruinneas: As reported by TheJournal.ie, the Irish-language Wikipedia was mostly written by editors who did not speak Irish, including Amy Uí Ríordáin, the Gaeilge officer for Wikipedia Community Ireland, and Kevin Scannell, a mathematics professor based in St. Louis, Missouri. The story has a happy ending though, with the two and other volunteers growing increasingly confident in their own Irish skills as they kept improving ga.wiki. As Uí Ríordáin herself put it, "In terms of Vicipéid, I think it’s a really great way to do a bit of cleachtadh."
- Memories of the way we were: Rachel Bloom's Hugo Award-nominated video and other Wiki rabbit holes were remembered by a special year-end article on The A.V. Club, as part of their "Wiki Wormhole" series.
- Wiki Wars – Did Hamas "Win" the Edit Battle?: An article from the Washington Free Beacon highlights controversy over edits to Wikipedia’s coverage of the Israel–Hamas conflict following October 7. Allegedly, Wikipedia entries initially listed Hamas as victorious in several engagements, including battles in southern Israel; these sections were later removed, reportedly in response to criticism. The article takes several quotes from Wikipedians' discussion at Talk:List of military engagements during the Israel–Hamas war.
- RM reportedly produces "a weird Frankenstein result": A Wikipedian speaking to the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles said the Requested move of the article formerly titled "2024 Nuseirat rescue operation" to its current namespace, Nuseirat rescue and massacre, "only highlights the schism and unhealthy détente between sides with profoundly differing perspectives and agendas."
- Lore, don't let me be misunderstood: TechXplore reported on a recent study by a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University, University of British Columbia and University of Washington – currently published on the arXiv preprint server – who created and deployed a new AI tool, called INFOGAP, to look at how biographical information about LGBT people, including Brittney Griner, is presented across the English, Russian, and French versions of Wikipedia. The study concluded that "cultural and social biases significantly influence Wikipedia's multilingual content".
- Wild Wiki-panel appeared!: On January 4, 2025, during the 138th annual meeting of the American Historical Association in New York City, an in-person panel about Open Knowledge and the incorporation of the Wikipedia Student Program in History college courses took place. The event was named Pedagogical Praxis: How Faculty and Students Are Opening up the Field of History by Improving Wikipedia.
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