![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Who-really-runs-Wikipedia.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWikipedia is generally thought of as an open, transparent, and mostly reliable online encyclopedia. Yet upon closer inspection, this turns out not to be the case.<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, the English Wikipedia with its 9 billio<\/strong><\/span>n<\/strong><\/a> worldwide page views per month is governed<\/strong><\/span><\/a> by just 500 active administrators, whose real identity in many cases remains unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n Moreover, studies have shown that 80% of all Wikipedia content is written<\/strong><\/span><\/a> by just 1% of all Wikipedia editors, which again amounts to just a few hundred mostly unknown people.<\/span><\/p>\n Obviously, such a non-transparent and hierarchical structure is susceptible to corruption and manipulation, the notorious \u201cpaid editors<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a> hired by corporations being just one example.<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, already in 2007, researchers found that CIA and FBI employees were editing<\/strong><\/span><\/a> Wikipedia articles on controversial topics including the Iraq war and the Guantanamo military prison.<\/span><\/p>\n Also in 2007, researchers found that one of the most active and influential English Wikipedia administrators, called \u201cSlim Virgin\u201d, was in fact a former British intelligence informer<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n More recently, another highly prolific Wikipedia editor going by the false name of \u201cPhilip Cross<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a> turned out to be linked to UK intelligence as well as several mainstream media journalists<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In Germany, one of the most aggressive Wikipedia editors was exposed<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, after a two-year legal battle, as a political operative formerly serving in the Israeli army as a foreign volunteer.<\/span><\/p>\n Even in Switzerland, unidentified government employees were caught whitewashing Wikipedia entries<\/a><\/strong><\/span> about the Swiss secret service just prior to a public referendum about the agency.<\/span><\/p>\n Many of these Wikipedia personae are editing articles almost all day and every day, indicating<\/strong><\/span><\/a> that they are either highly dedicated individuals, or in fact, operated by a group of people.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, articles edited by these personae cannot easily be revised, since the above-mentioned administrators<\/a><\/strong><\/span> can always revert changes or simply block disagreeing users altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n The primary goal of these covert campaigns appears to be<\/strong><\/span><\/a> pushing Western and Israeli government<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>positions while destroying the reputation of independent journalists and politicians.<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, a friend<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a \u201cYoung Leader<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a> of the Davos forum, has repeatedly defended<\/strong><\/span><\/a> these operations.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of Davos, Wikimedia has itself amassed a fortune<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>of more than $160 million, donated in large part not by lazy students, but by major US corporations<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and influential foundations<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Moreover, US social media and video platforms are increasingly referring<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>to Wikipedia to frame or combat \u201ccontroversial\u201d topics. The revelations discussed above may perhaps help explain why.<\/span><\/p>\n Already NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed<\/strong><\/span><\/a> how spooks manipulate online debates, and more recently, a senior Twitter executive turned out<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to be a British Army \u201cpsyops\u201d officer.<\/span><\/p>\n To add at least some degree of transparency, German researchers have developed a free web browser tool called WikiWho<\/strong><\/span><\/a> that lets readers color code just who edited what in Wikipedia.<\/span><\/p>\n In many cases, the result looks as discomforting as one might expect.<\/span><\/p>\n Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>Additional References<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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