'We seek your assistance...': US lawmakers wants to investigate Wikipedia over alleged biased entries; sends letter to company

Two House Republicans wants to launch an investigation into Wikipedia. The US lawmakers have alleged that the online encyclopedia has organised efforts to "inject bias" into its content. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Chairman James Comer and cybersecurity subcommittee head Nancy Mace, recently announced the inquiry. In a letter sent to

Wikimedia Foundation

’s (which helps run the site) CEO Maryana Iskander, the committee requested information regarding "foreign operations and individuals at academic institutions subsidised by US taxpayer dollars to influence US public opinion." The House Republicans demanded that the company provide internal documents that could reveal evidence of editors violating the site’s privacy policy and exploiting Wikipedia for their own purposes.

What House Republicans said in their letter to Wikipedia

In the letter, Comer and Mace wrote that the committee is “investigating the efforts of foreign operations and individuals at academic institutions subsidised by US taxpayer dollars to influence US public opinion. We seek your assistance in obtaining documents and communications regarding individuals (or specific accounts) serving as Wikipedia volunteer editors who violated Wikipedia platform policies, as well as your own efforts to thwart intentional, organised efforts to inject bias into important and sensitive topics.”

“Multiple studies and reports have highlighted efforts to manipulate information on the Wikipedia platform for propaganda aimed at Western audiences,” the letter continued.Apart from this, the letter also cited a report from the Anti-Defamation League alleging that Wikipedia coordinated a campaign to manipulate entries about the War in Gaza, which they claim promoted “antisemitic and anti-Israel information.”“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,” the letter noted.The lawmakers further pointed to a report by the think tank Atlantic Council, which claimed that pro-Russia actors leveraged Wikipedia to spread pro-Kremlin narratives on the platform.In the letter, the committee went on to seek details about “the tools and methods Wikipedia utilises to identify and stop malicious conduct online that injects bias and undermines neutral points of view on its platform.”

What Wikipedia said about this investigation

In a statement to USA TODAY, the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, said it will look into the request from Congress. The non-profit organisation said: “We welcome the opportunity to respond to the Committee’s questions and to discuss the importance of safeguarding the integrity of information on our platform.”