Owner Of Wikipedia Dispute Allegations Of Saudi

According to two international human rights organizations, Saudi officials changed or removed internet content. The allegations followed Wikimedia's own inquiry, which resulted in the suspension of 16 users for "conflict of interest" editing in the Middle East.

Despite Wikimedia's claim that "significant inaccuracies" had been published, there was no proof of Saudi penetration.

For its content, Wikipedia depends on groups of volunteer administrators and editors.

The Saudi government is allegedly using operatives to appear as independent editors on Wikipedia to "manage information about the nation," according to a statement from Smex and Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn).

While Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, created Dawn, a US-based organization, Smex is based in Lebanon. Jamal Khashoggi was also the founder of Smex.

Two "high-ranking officials in Saudi Arabia," according to the organisations, were detained in September 2020 and accused of "swaying public opinion" and "violating public morals."

According to the organisations, they received sentences of five and eight years in prison.

For individuals who "were participating in conflict of interest editing on Wikipedia projects" in the Middle East, Wikimedia imposed 16 global suspensions last year.

The statement read, "We were able to determine that a number of users with close relationships to outside parties were modifying the platform in a coordinated manner to forward the goal of those parties.

Smex and Dawn claimed that at least one of the 16 were Saudi users acting as government agents to "promote positive content about the government and delete stuff critical of the government," citing "sources with knowledge of Wikimedia's operations."

This is "unlikely to be the case," according to Wikimedia, which also mentioned that some of the blocked users "may have been Saudi."

The statement was not shared by these organizations with the Wikimedia Foundation, and it was noted that "sources of knowledge" referenced in the release "may make mistakes."