Wikipedia
Et leksikon betragtes generelt som et åbent, gennemsigtigt og mest pålideligt online encyklopædi. Men ved nærmere eftersyn viser det sig ikke at være tilfældet.

Faktisk er det engelske nyhedsbrev med sine 9 mia. verdensperspektiver pr. måned styret af kun 500 aktive administratorer, hvis reelle identitet i mange tilfælde stadig er ukendt.

Desuden har undersøgelser vist, at 80% af det samlede indhold af medierne er skrevet af kun 1% af alle redaktører, hvilket igen kun svarer til nogle få hundrede for det meste ukendte.

En sådan uigennemsigtig og hierarkisk struktur er naturligvis modtagelig for korruption og manipulation, idet de berygtede "betalte redaktører", der er ansat af virksomheder, blot er et eksempel.


Kommentar: Delvist oversat af Sott.net fra Wikipedia: A disinformation operation? Senere i artiklen står der: "Artikler, der er mest berørt af denne form for manipulation, omfatter politiske, geopolitiske og visse historiske emner samt biografier af ikke-konformistiske akademikere, journalister og politikere." Så det kan man tage med i betragtningerne. En måde at få et bredre syn på et emne er at åbne flere sprog om det samme emne og så oversætte dem til et sprog man forstår.


Indeed, already in 2007, researchers found that CIA and FBI employees were editing Wikipedia articles on controversial topics including the Iraq war and the Guantanamo military prison.

Also in 2007, researchers found that one of the most active and influential English Wikipedia administrators, called "Slim Virgin", was in fact a former British intelligence informer.

More recently, another highly prolific Wikipedia editor going by the false name of "Philip Cross" turned out to be linked to UK intelligence as well as several mainstream media journalists.

In Germany, one of the most aggressive Wikipedia editors was exposed, after a two-year legal battle, as a political operative formerly serving in the Israeli army as a foreign volunteer.

Even in Switzerland, unidentified government employees were caught whitewashing Wikipedia entries about the Swiss secret service just prior to a public referendum about the agency.

Many of these Wikipedia personae are editing articles almost all day and every day, indicating that they are either highly dedicated individuals, or in fact operated by a group of people.

In addition, articles edited by these personae cannot easily be revised, since the above mentioned administrators can always revert changes or simply block disagreeing users altogether.

The primary goal of these covert campaigns appears to be pushing Western and Israeli government positions while destroying the reputation of independent journalists and politicians.

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.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, a friend of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a "Young Leader" of the Davos forum, has repeatedly defended these operations.

Speaking of Davos, Wikimedia has itself amassed a fortune of more than $160 million, donated in large part not by lazy students, but by major US corporations and influential foundations.

Moreover, US social media and video platforms are increasingly referring to Wikipedia to frame or combat "controversial" topics. The revelations discussed above may perhaps help explain why.

Already NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed how spooks manipulate online debates, and more recently, a senior Twitter executive turned out to be a British Army "psyops" officer.

To add at least some degree of transparency, German researchers have developed a free web browser tool called WikiWho that lets readers color code just who edited what in Wikipedia.

In many cases, the result looks as discomforting as one might expect.

WikiWho
WikiWho / WhoColor
Additional References