Wikipedia Co-Founder Larry Sanger Explains How His Website Became 'Woke' & 'Leftist'

Wikipedia co-founder, Larry Sanger, said, "Wikipedia made a real effort at neutrality for its first five years or so, and then it began a long, slow slide into what I would call 'leftist propaganda'."

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger said, "As the news media has shifted and as the establishment has shifted to the left, the content of Wikipedia has synced."

Source : Unsplash/Luke Chesser

The freely accesible public encyclopedia Wikipedia has often been accused of supporting Left-theories and being Leftist in nature. Many names, including X owner Elon Musk, have also raised their voices against this, but is it really true? Who better to shed light on the topic than the co-founder of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger himself, right? Sanger, in an interview, admitted that Wikipedia has indeed shifted to the Left.

Sanger in an interview said, "Wikipedia made a real effort at neutrality for its first five years or so, and then it began a long, slow slide into what I would call 'leftist propaganda'. That's a harsh description to put on Wikipedia, but at least a lot of political articles read that way now. That's because they follow the news media, at least they have done in the last 10 or 15 years."

He added, "They've gradually gotten rid of all blogs, and recently they got rid of almost all conservative news sources as sources for their articles. So as the news media has shifted and as the establishment has shifted to the left, the content of Wikipedia has synced."

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger on how his site went woke pic.twitter.com/vGTp97OIRm

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 31, 2024

'Wikipedia Is Controlled By Far-Left Activists, People Should Stop Donating To Them': Elon Musk

Elon Musk, the owner of X, previously advised people against donating to Wikipedia, claiming that the platform has been misused and "controlled by far-left activists." Musk has criticised Wikipedia for promoting left-leaning narratives in the past as well. In a recent post on X, he referenced a report by Pirate Wires to support his stance, that alleged "a coordinated campaign led by around 40 Wikipedia editors has worked to delegitimize Israel, present radical Islamist groups in a favourable light, and position fringe academic views on the Israel-Palestine conflict as mainstream over past years, intensifying after the October 7 attack."

Musk in his post said, "Wikipedia is controlled by far-Left activists. People should stop donating to them."

Wikipedia is controlled by far-left activists.

People should stop donating to them. https://t.co/Cjq2diadFY

— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) October 25, 2024