ADL says at least 30 Wikipedia editors introducing antisemitic, anti-Israel content onto site

A group of at least 30 Wikipedia editors has made coordinated efforts to introduce “antisemitic narratives, anti-Israel bias, and misleading information” onto the site, in violation of its policies, an Anti-Defamation League report says.

According to the report, the group of editors was up to 18 times more active in group contacts than comparable groups of editors and twice as active in the number of total edits they made over the past decade.

These findings indicate a coordinated effort by the editors to edit pages related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whitewashing antisemitism, violence, and calls for the destruction of Israel, the report finds.

The phenomenon is particularly visible in Arabic-language pages, with the ADL finding that pages related to Hamas glorify the terror group, perpetuate its propaganda, and “flout Wikipedia’s rules for neutrality.”

It says that these edits have “ramped up” since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt says that the site is assumed by readers to be reliable, “but in reality, it has become a biased platform manipulated by agenda-driven editors on many topics.”

“Recent Wikipedia efforts toward neutrality are nothing but a Band-Aid on a problem that’s getting worse, with persistent antisemitic and anti-Israel bias still far too present. We urge Wikipedia and policymakers to act quickly before rampant disinformation on one of the most visited sources of information leads to tragic consequences.”

The ADL says that Wikipedia’s policies for combating such content are insufficient, and makes several recommendations, including the creation of a “reputable expert program” on the conflict to review pages relating to the conflict, and a committee that can vet edits made to contentious topics.

It also says policymakers should form “a task force aimed at combating antisemitic bias on Wikipedia” and hold hearings on the issue.