[Peace-discuss] Wikipedia is neoliberal-owned and operated

[J.B. Nicholson]

Pepe Escobar wrote:
> Others were simply stunned: “I wonder why you were restricted as you work for a
> reputable publication.” Or made the obvious connections: “Facebook is a censorship
> machine. I did not know that they do not give reasons for what they do but then
> they are part of the Deep State.”

So is Wikipedia -- from 
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/10/wikipedia-formally-censors-the-grayzone-as-regime-change-advocates-monopolize-editing/ 
(which is part 1 of a 2-part series one should read in its entirety). This article 
begins:

> Internet encyclopedia giant Wikipedia is censoring independent news websites by
> adding them to an official blacklist of taboo “deprecated” media outlets.
> 
> The Grayzone is among the news websites targeted by the censorship campaign.
> Others include leftist and anti-imperialist outlets like MintPress News and the
> Latin American news broadcaster Telesur, along with several prominent right-wing
> political sites, including the Daily Caller.
> 
> The campaign to blacklist The Grayzone was initiated by Wikipedia editors who
> identify as Venezuelans and openly support the country’s right-wing, US-backed
> opposition. These users obsessively monitor Venezuela-related articles,
> aggressively pushing a regime-change line and working to excise any piece of
> information or opinion that interferes with their agenda.
> 
> This online cabal of Venezuelan opposition supporters has been joined by an
> assortment of neoconservatives who spend countless hours per day, every day of the
> week, inundating Wikipedia articles with talking points defending Western
> intervention and demonizing NATO’s Official Enemies.
> 
> Together, this tiny handful of editors has successfully banned Wikipedia from
> citing The Grayzone, falsely claiming that the website publishes unreliable,
> false, or fabricated information. In fact, in its more than four years of
> existence, including its first two years hosted at the website AlterNet (whose use
> is not forbidden on Wikipedia), The Grayzone has never had to issue a major
> correction or retract a story.
> 
> Even more absurdly, the editors behind the campaign to blacklist The Grayzone made
> it clear in their public discussions that they were motivated to censor The
> Grayzone’s reporting based on the political perspective of its writers – not on
> the basis of any falsehoods or distortions that appeared on its website.

[...]

> The CIA[1], FBI[2], New York Police Department[3], Vatican[4], and fossil fuel
> colossus BP[5], to name just a few, have all been caught directly editing
> Wikipedia articles.
> 
> But the rot goes much deeper. Powerful interests, from states to companies, hire 
> Wikipedia editors[6] to sanitize entries about themselves. Past clients for these 
> services have included social media giant Facebook itself, along with corporate 
> media juggernauts like NBC and the Koch Brothers[7] oligarchs.

[1] https://www.wired.com/2007/08/wiki-tracker/
[2] 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-security-wikipedia/cia-fbi-computers-used-for-wikipedia-edits-idUSN1642896020070816
[3] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nypd-wikipedia-edits-punishment_n_6880020
[4] 
https://www.smh.com.au/national/cia-and-vatican-edit-wikipedia-entries-20070819-gdqwa2.html
[5] https://www.cnet.com/news/bp-accused-of-rewriting-environmental-record-on-wikipedia/
[6] http://whitehatwiki.com/
[7] 
https://thinkprogress.org/koch-industries-employs-pr-firm-to-airbrush-wikipedia-gets-banned-for-unethical-sock-puppets-6570bbd615bd/