In an interview with The Epoch Times, Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, expressed concerns that the platform has abandoned its neutrality in recent years, veering toward what he describes as “leftist propaganda.” Sanger, who distanced himself from the project nearly two decades ago due to disagreements over its direction, shared his perspective during an interview with EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders.” He noted that Wikipedia, which marked its 20th anniversary earlier this year, has increasingly aligned its content with mainstream media narratives.
He said, “… introduced the neutrality policy before Wikipedia was even conceived of, and then Wikipedia inherited it from Newpedia. Wikipedia made a real effort at neutrality for I would say its first five years or so on that became well began along a slow slide into what I would call leftist propaganda. I mean that’s a harsh description to put on Wikipedia but at least a lot of the political articles read that way. But that’s because they follow the news media, at least they have done in the last 10 years or so, 10 or 15 years, they have gradually gotten rid of all blogs and then more recently, they’ve gotten rid of almost all conservative news sources as sources for their articles, and so as the news media has shifted, and as the establishment, frankly, has shifted more to the left or to the left, the content of Wikipedia has followed suit.”
He added, “It would have been hard for me to accept that this would happen, and it would be so striking even 10 years ago, I mean already there was this decline into the slide to a center-left point of view by 2010.”
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger on how his site went woke pic.twitter.com/vGTp97OIRm
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The online encyclopedia relies on a vast network of around 125,000 active volunteer editors and more than 1,000 administrators, who have the authority to manage edits and block accounts. Sanger stated that in the last five years, individuals with conservative or contrarian viewpoints often find their Wikipedia articles misrepresenting their achievements, omitting significant aspects of their work, or distorting their motivations.
According to Sanger, such figures are frequently labeled as “far-right” or “conspiracy theorists,” even when those who know them personally would not characterize them in such terms. He criticized the platform for following the lead of traditional news outlets, saying it has increasingly excluded conservative news sources, such as Fox News’s political coverage, the New York Post, and the Daily Mail, from its list of acceptable references.
Sanger also shared his plans to develop a decentralized network aimed at creating a more inclusive platform for encyclopedic content. “We’re going to be putting all of the encyclopedic content and the world in a single network. That’s an extremely compelling vision,” he explained, emphasizing the project’s potential to empower users with more control over the content they engage with.
Since co-founding Wikipedia with Jimmy Wales in 2001, Sanger has repeatedly voiced concerns about its direction. Wikipedia representatives have yet to comment on his latest criticisms.
(With inputs from The Epoch Times)
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