(AFP) – US President Donald Trump’s top federal prosecutor in Washington has accused Wikipedia of allowing “information manipulation” and disseminating propaganda, according to a letter seen by AFP on Monday. The allegations by Edward Martin, which echoed years of conservative criticism directed at the online encyclopedia, threaten to jeopardize Wikipedia’s tax-exempt status.
“Wikipedia is permitting information manipulation on its platform, including the rewriting of key, historical events and biographical information of current and previous American leaders, as well as other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States,” Martin wrote in the letter to Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the platform. “Masking propaganda that influences public opinion under the guise of providing informational material is antithetical to Wikimedia’s ‘educational’ mission.”
The four-page letter, sent last week, demanded responses by May 15 to a dozen questions about the Wikimedia Foundation’s operations. Among them were requests for detailed information about its editorial practices to ensure transparency and accountability, trust and safety measures, and steps taken to prevent foreign influence operations. The Wikimedia Foundation did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
“Hey Wikipedia: you can run but you can’t hide!” Martin wrote on the platform X at the weekend, without mentioning the letter. In his letter, Martin said he was seeking to determine whether Wikipedia’s activities were in violation of its tax-exempt status – a probe that is typically handled by tax authorities at the Internal Revenue Service.
The letter appears to be part of a sweeping Trump administration campaign to target media outlets, think tanks, and research organizations long accused by conservative campaigners of pushing a liberal political agenda. Elon Musk, Trump’s billionaire ally, has previously called for the defunding of Wikipedia and offered to give the organization a billion dollars if they changed their name to “Dickipedia.”
Martin, a controversial Trump loyalist, is the interim US attorney for the District of Columbia and the president’s pick to serve in that role full time. But Democratic lawmakers have sought to block his appointment for his links to the January 6, 2021 insurrection that saw a violent mob attacking the US Capitol and for failing to disclose his frequent appearances on Russian media in mandatory disclosure forms to the Senate.
“It is well-documented that Ed Martin is a Donald Trump loyalist who has embraced a Nazi sympathizer and attacked law enforcement who kept lawmakers and staff safe during the January 6 insurrection,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said earlier this month. “The 150 undisclosed appearances Martin has made on Russian state media as recently as April of last year — as Russia was actively bombing Ukraine — raises further serious questions about whether he has the temperament to serve as US Attorney.”
– Anuj CHOPRA
© 2024 AFP
