House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) have launched an investigation into alleged organized efforts to manipulate information on Wikipedia. The lawmakers are concerned about attempts to influence U.S. public opinion by altering Wikipedia articles in violation of the platform's rules.
In a letter addressed to Wikimedia Foundation Chief Executive Officer Maryana Iskander, Comer and Mace requested documents and information regarding actions taken against Wikipedia volunteer editors who have violated platform policies. They also asked for details about Iskander’s efforts to counteract organized attempts to introduce bias into sensitive topics.
“Multiple studies and reports have highlighted efforts to manipulate information on the Wikipedia platform for propaganda aimed at Western audiences. One recent report raised troubling questions about potentially systematic efforts to advance antisemitic and anti-Israel information in Wikipedia articles related to conflicts with the State of Israel,” wrote the lawmakers. “A second investigation detailed actions by hostile nation-state actors to expose Western audiences to pro-Kremlin and anti-Western messaging by manipulating Wikipedia articles and other news outlets relied on for training AI chatbots.”
The committee noted that both Americans and AI chatbots increasingly rely on Wikipedia as a source of credible and unbiased information across many subjects. As part of its inquiry, the committee is examining manipulation attempts involving foreign individuals, academic institutions funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars, as well as how much Wikipedia is aware of these issues and what steps it has taken in response. Additionally, they are seeking information about tools and methods used by Wikipedia to detect and prevent malicious activity that could introduce bias or undermine neutrality.
“[The Wikimedia] foundation, which hosts the Wikipedia platform, has acknowledged taking actions responding to misconduct by volunteer editors who effectively create Wikipedia’s encyclopedic articles. The Committee recognizes that virtually all web-based information platforms must contend with bad actors and their efforts to manipulate. Our inquiry seeks information to help our examination of how Wikipedia responds to such threats and how frequently it creates accountability when intentional, egregious, or highly suspicious patterns of conduct on topics of sensitive public interest are brought to attention,” concluded the lawmakers.
James Comer has represented Kentucky’s 1st district in the U.S. Congress since 2016 after replacing Ed Whitfield. Before his tenure in Congress, he served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2001 to 2012. Comer was born in Carthage, Tennessee in 1972, lives in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, and graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1993.
Read the letter to Wikimedia Foundation here.
