On Monday (September 18, local time), billionaire businessman Elon Musk slammed Wikipedia and its ‘motivated’ editors for information manipulation and distortion of facts. He made the remarks during a live discussion on X (formerly Twitter) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California.
Musk said, “There’s an old saying that ‘history is written by the victors,’ it’s like well, not if your enemies are still alive and have a lot of time on their hands to edit Wikipedia. The losers just got a lot of time on their hands.”
On hearing that, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu joked, “They necessarily don’t bring out the balanced view of things…History is written by those who can harness the most editors.”
Elon Musk and Benjamin Netanyahu slam Wikipedia for its bias. pic.twitter.com/FkDLheKJAY
— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) September 18, 2023
This is not the first time Elon Musk has slammed Wikipedia for its lack of editorial oversight and dissemination of propaganda content under the guise of facts.
In December 2022, he said, “Most of Earth: “The MSM is biased.” Wikipedia: “Cite MSM source to confirm this claim.” Wikipedia has a non-trivial left-wing bias.” Musk also tagged Wikipedia’s founder Jimmy Wales and sought his comments on the free encyclopedia’s bias.
His tweet came after YouTuber Ian Miles Cheong pointed out that there was a discussion by Wikipedia Editors to remove the ‘Twitter Files’ page.
Most of Earth: “The MSM is biased.”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2022
Wikipedia: “Cite MSM source to confirm this claim.” 🤣🤣
Wikipedia has a non-trivial left-wing bias.@jimmy_wales, what are your thoughts?
In another tweet, Elon Musk said, “In the past, victory would mean that your enemies are no longer around. These days, they’re not only alive & well, but have lots of time on their hands to edit Wikipedia!
In the past, victory would mean that your enemies are no longer around. These days, they’re not only alive & well, but have lots of time on their hands to edit Wikipedia!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2022
He posted a similar tweet on April 21, 2022, reiterating that history is written by ‘Wikipedia Editors.’
They say history is written by the victors, but not on Wikipedia if the losing party is still alive & has lots of time on their hands!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
Wikipedia should never be trusted: Larry Sanger
In July 2021, co-founder of Wikipedia Larry Sanger spoke to OpIndia in detail about the user-edited encyclopedia. He said that Wikipedia lost its neutral nature in 2009, before which editors from all ideologies debated equally before deciding what should be published on the platform.
He said that articles on everything on Wikipedia had become partisan, mainly supporting the Biden administration and blacking out information that did not show the Democrats in a good light. OpIndia has extensively reported on the biased nature of Wikipedia. Our coverage can be seen here.
