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Ed Martin, the interim Attorney for the District of Columbia, has formally challenged the nonprofit status of the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization that operates Wikipedia. In a letter obtained by The Free Press, Martin raises concerns that the online encyclopedia is engaging in activities that may violate its obligations as a tax-exempt organization under U.S. law. The letter signals a potential threat to the Wikimedia Foundation‘s Section 501(c)(3) status, suggesting Martin may seek to have its tax-exempt charitable designation revoked.
According to Section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of U.S. law, tax-exempt entities must operate exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, public safety testing, literary, or educational purposes. Martin alleges that Wikipedia is failing this criterion by “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda,” including through the “rewriting” of historical events and other actions that he claims implicate US national security and interests.
“Masking propaganda that influences public opinion under the guise of providing informational material is antithetical to Wikimedia’s ‘educational’ mission,” Martin wrote, stating that his office has received information indicating Wikipedia’s “policies benefit foreign powers.” While the Wikimedia Foundation is headquartered in San Francisco, it is also registered as a corporation and conducts fundraising activities in D.C.
The letter does not identify the specific foreign actors allegedly involved or provide concrete examples of the purported propaganda. However, a source familiar with Martin’s concerns indicated a focus on “edits on Wikipedia as they relate to the Israel-Hamas conflict that are clearly targeted against Israel to benefit other countries.”
The warning letter has an Israel angle to it
This concern aligns with a recent report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in March, which claimed that “at least 30 Wikipedia editors acted in concert to circumvent Wikipedia’s policies to introduce antisemitic narratives, anti-Israel bias, and misleading information.”
Previous reporting by Pirate Wires also alleged that anti-Israel editors on Wikipedia have “hijacked the Israel-Palestine narrative” by removing key facts and promoting pro-Hamas viewpoints.
Attorney’s letter to Wikipedia also targets Google and other Big Tech
In his letter, Martin also highlighted the practice of search engines like Google “prioritizing Wikipedia” in search results. He argues that Wikipedia articles are often “biased, unreliable, or sourced by entities who wish to do harm to the United States.” These allegations follow a February editorial in the New York Post criticizing Wikipedia for allegedly “blacklisting” conservative news sources. Wikipedia’s “reliable sources” guideline does indeed rate various websites for accuracy, with several conservative publications, including Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire, Fox News, and National Review, receiving lower ratings.
Martin has posed several questions to the Wikimedia Foundation, demanding information on its measures to “safeguard” the public from propaganda and its efforts to exclude “foreign influence operatives from making targeted edits” on topics that could “reshape or rewrite history.” He has set a deadline of May 15th for the Foundation to respond to his inquiries.
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