Wikipedia’s parent company Wikimedia has denied claims that the Saudi Arabian government has “infiltrated” the website’s team in the Gulf in a bid to control its content.
Wikimedia said “material inaccuracies” were published, but could not find evidence of Saudi infiltration.
The clarification came after an internal probe was initiated, following which 16 users were suspended for “conflict of interest” editing in the Middle East.
“We were able to confirm that a number of users with close connections with external parties were editing the platform in a coordinated fashion to advance the aim of those parties,” it said.
The claims were made by the Washington-based Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), an NGO founded by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was found murdered in Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, and Smex.
Quoting sources close to Wikimedia’s operations, Smex and Dawn claimed that at least one of the 16 were Saudi users was serving as agents for the government to “promote positive content about the government and delete content critical of the government”, reports BBC.
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Wikimedia refuted this claim saying that it was “unlikely” and added that some users “who may have been Saudi” were among those banned.
“These organisations did not share the statement with the [Wikimedia] Foundation, and ‘sources of knowledge’ as cited in their release can get things wrong,” it said.
Last year, Wikimedia announced 16 suspensions for users who “were engaging in conflict of interest editing on Wikipedia projects” in the Middle East.
Wikipedia primarily relies on teams of volunteer administrators and editors for its content.
(With inputs from agencies)
