Wikipedia launches review after report alleges anti-Israel editorial manipulation
Online encyclopedia finds 'troubling and flawed conclusions' in ADL claims of co-ordinated hate campaign
Wikipedia is conducting a review after a report accused the platform of widespread anti-Israel bias.
Researchers at the Anti Defamation League’s Centre for Technology and Society claim they discovered clear evidence that a group of at least 30 editors “acted in concert to circumvent Wikipedia’s policies to introduce antisemitic narratives, anti-Israel bias, and misleading information” and “systematically evade” Wikipedia’s rules to “shift balanced narratives toward skewed ones, spotlighting criticism of Israel and downplaying Palestinian terrorist violence and antisemitism.”
The report claims the editors appeared to co-ordinate their efforts to “change pages related to Israel, Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, downplaying Palestinian antisemitism, violence, and calls to destroy Israel while foregrounding criticism of Israel” and that the alleged edits had “ramped up” since the 7th October 2023 Hamas attacks.
They said that adding to the anti-Israel “manipulation and disinformation” found on English-language Wikipedia pages, the platform’s policies are “not adequately preventing widespread bias and partiality on its Arabic-language pages related to Hamas”.
ADL’s report said it “analysed pages on the terrorist organization in Arabic and found that both the primary page and related pages glorify Hamas, perpetuate pro-Hamas propaganda, and flout Wikipedia’s rules for neutrality.”
It adds that “manipulation and disinformation problem” on Wikipedia is “wide-spread and touches multiple topics, highlighting the urgency of addressing this broad platform-wide issue”.
The report made a number of urgent recommendations, including the establishment of a “reputable expert” programme for experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, vetted by the Wikimedia Foundation, to “review contentious pages for accuracy and bias” and create a task force aimed at “combating antisemitic bias on Wikipedia”.
Speaking to Jewish News, a spokesperson at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia said: “The values of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation reflect our commitment to integrity and accuracy, and we categorically condemn antisemitism and all forms of hate.
“Though our preliminary review of this report finds troubling and flawed conclusions that are not supported by the Anti-Defamation League’s data, we are currently undertaking a more thorough and detailed analysis. It is unfortunate that we were not asked to provide context that might have helped allay some of the concerns raised.”
They added that Wikipedia is a “constantly evolving, living encyclopedia based on principles of neutrality, which means content added to the site must be presented, as far as possible, without editorial bias.”
Wikipedia includes more than 65 million articles and is edited by nearly 260,000 volunteers from across the world.
- The ADL report can be read in full here.
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