WASHINGTON—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.) are investigating organized efforts, undertaken in violation of Wikipedia platform rules, to influence U.S. public opinion on important and sensitive topics by manipulating Wikipedia articles. In a letter to Wikimedia Foundation Chief Executive Officer Maryana Iskander, Chairman Comer and Subcommittee Chairwoman Mace request documents and information related to actions by Wikipedia volunteer editors caught violating platform policies, as well as Iskander’s efforts to thwart intentional, organized efforts to inject 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.” 
 
Americans, and increasingly AI chatbots, rely on Wikipedia to disperse credible and unbiased information on a variety of topics and persons of interest.  The House Oversight Committee is investigating manipulation efforts to determine the role and methods of foreign individuals, those at academic institutions subsidized by United States taxpayer dollars, as well as Wikipedia’s awareness and response. The Committee also seeks information about the tools and methods Wikipedia utilizes to identify and stop malicious conduct online that injects bias and undermines neutral points of view on its platform. 
 
“[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.  
 
Read the letter to Wikimedia Foundation here.