Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias, along with content manipulation on Wikipedia, undermine the platform's neutrality.
Through extensive research, researchers at the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Center for Technology and Society (CTS) found widespread anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias on Wikipedia, including clear evidence of a coordinated campaign to manipulate Wikipedia content related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in likely violation of Wikipedia policies.
The report It also found that content on the Arabic Wikipedia about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is influenced by pro-Hamas views.
“Most readers assume Wikipedia is a reliable online encyclopedia, but in reality, it has become biased and manipulated on many issues by agenda-driven editors,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL. “Wikipedia’s recent efforts to maintain neutrality are merely a patch on a worsening problem, with persistent anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias still all too prevalent. We urge Wikipedia and lawmakers to act swiftly before rampant misinformation on one of the most visited sources of information leads to tragic consequences.”
Coordinated anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli prejudice and manipulation
The ADL has found clear evidence that a group of at least 30 editors acted in concert to circumvent Wikipedia policies and introduce antisemitic narratives, anti-Israel bias, and misleading information:
- These 30 editors were on average at least twice as active as other comparable groups of editors, based on the total number of edits made over the past 10 years.
- The 30 editors were much more likely than other editors to communicate with each other on Wikipedia: up to 18 times more active in group communications than other comparable groups of editors.
- The editors appeared to coordinate to change pages related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, downplaying Palestinian antisemitism, violence, and calls to destroy Israel, while promoting criticism of Israel.
- These edits have intensified since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and include the systematic removal of quotes from reliable sources and block voting to maintain content critical of Israel and eliminate coverage of Palestinian violence and terrorism.
“It’s clear that Wikipedia needs to do much more to address the very active anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias and its coordination,” said Daniel Kelley, Acting Director of the ADL’s Center for Technology and Society. “And until then, other platforms that rely on Wikipedia as a source—from Google Search to massive language models like ChatGPT—should deprioritize unverified Wikipedia content on topics related to Jews, Israel, and the Middle East conflict to avoid perpetuating that bias.”
Bias in Arabic Wikipedia content regarding Hamas
In addition to this anti-Israel manipulation and disinformation campaign on English Wikipedia pages, Wikipedia's policies are not adequately preventing widespread bias and unfairness on its Hamas-related Arabic pages.
The ADL analyzed Arabic-language pages about the terrorist organization and found that both the main page and other related pages glorify Hamas, perpetuate pro-Hamas propaganda, and violate Wikipedia's neutrality rules.
Policy recommendations
The report offers detailed recommendations for Wikipedia, companies like Google and those that operate massive language models (LLMs), and the government, including:
For Wikipedia:
- Reputable Expert ProgramWikipedia should develop a program of experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, approved by the Wikimedia Foundation, to review controversial pages for accuracy and bias.
- Pre-selection of editors with the authority to close discussionsFor controversial topics concerning Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a special committee of administrators should evaluate and appoint Wikipedia editors with the exclusive right to close discussion pages related to disputes over article content.
- The closure cannot be decided by a majority vote.: Decisions on controversial content that becomes the subject of discussion on talk pages should be decided on the merits by specially designated closure editors, rather than by majority vote (as is current policy, but not always actual practice).
- Inauthentic behavior/state actorsWikipedia should evaluate its current tools against inauthentic behavior and foreign influence to determine whether they are sufficient to address current issues and concerns.
For legislators:
- Convene academics, Wikipedians, computer science experts, and civil society to develop recommendations and policy options to limit bias and antisemitism on Wikipedia, including increased transparency and reporting requirements on Wikipedia's efforts to eradicate bias.
- Create a working group to combat anti-Semitic bias on Wikipedia.
- Hold hearings on the issue of bias and antisemitism on Wikipedia.
- Raise awareness among citizens and colleagues about bias and antisemitism on Wikipedia by writing public letters to the Wikimedia Foundation, highlighting the issues and demanding answers on how they will ensure the platform doesn't become a haven for hate.
The problem of manipulation and misinformation on Wikipedia is widespread and affects multiple topics, highlighting the urgency of addressing this issue across the platform.
Recently, Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) banned several editors from the Israel-Palestine topic area (known as topic-based banning, rather than a broader site-wide ban). A World Jewish Congress report on Wikipedia It also details current problems of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias on English-language Wikipedia, such as Holocaust revisionism. In one case, a group of Polish editors appears to have participated. in coordinated efforts to insert a Polish nationalist narrative into articles about the Holocaust in Poland, downplaying Polish responsibility and blaming Polish Jews. Similarly, there have been Similar campaigns to erase Native American history.
This research was conducted in partnership with Builders for Tomorrow (BFT), a venture philanthropy and research organization dedicated to combating anti-Jewish and anti-Western ideologies.
In general, it's astonishing how relatively objective Wikipedia, or most Wikipedia articles, remains. It's almost a kind of social network. Anyone can edit or write an article, although others can also rewrite it almost entirely. Through many control mechanisms, manipulation is always possible under the guise of objectivity. In the case of articles on Israel and Islamist terrorist groups, the most common problem is that, under the guise of this extreme objectivity, the articles equate the Israeli state and army with terrorist organizations and terrorists, or among them, those to whom someone once gave some minimal legitimacy, as is the case especially with Hezbollah or Hamas in its purely political aspect. At least, this isn't the case with terrorist groups, which have been very clear over time and moreover, there is a majority consensus. Communists, as well as neo-Nazis such as the Spaniard Jordi de la Fuente, the recently appointed leader of the new union of the new Vox party, give legitimacy to Hezbollah and Hamas. For them, they would be practically the same political organizations as the international image that their members and associates want to give, organizations that only work for the good of their people, almost communist for some or charitable religious for others. Then the issue of terrorism is something they do not want to see, or others support it shamelessly, as in the case of the Spanish communist MEP Manu Pineda or the well-known neo-Nazi Falangist Isabel Peralta. Articles featuring the Golan Heights may be another example of articles that raise doubts in the reader, because they are not considered Israeli territory. For example, the Spanish television channel La Sexta, which is supposedly more left-wing in Spain, featured a map of the Golan Heights in Syria to explain the region where the incident occurred, during the news of the 2015 death of a Spanish Blue Helmet soldier in Lebanon in an accident caused by friendly fire from Israel. Incidentally, this Spanish television channel, the most "reddish," blamed Israel for the death of the soldier's mother and the Spanish military, who are generally more than fascist, in other words, it was an intentional murder.
An additional cause for concern about what is published is that Wikipedia is one of the main sources for all conversational AIs. The companies that develop them have to train them with information from millions of texts, such as web pages, books, or the Wikipedia encyclopedia, which anyone could download in full to have on their computer in any language. Then, using employees or volunteers or more carefully selected texts, they refine or censor the information or general ideas that each developer company deems appropriate, although in many cases this may be impossible. For example, the famous Chinese AI DeepSeek R1 brazenly distances itself from any critical question about China, such as when asked about Tiananmen Square. These AIs have a very limited memory capacity, so to appear intelligent on any subject, they have no choice but to practice something more than akin to reductionism or simplification of ideas, more than similar to the reductionism of ideologies such as those of fascist and Nazi lunatics. And when specific data is required, even if it is not the most well-known, it usually makes it up without hesitation, also like a vulgar far-right lunatic. In the case of ChatGPT, which remains the most famous and the most used of all by far, the current free version gives the option to search the internet for information related to the question before answering, or apparently it automatically searches for it if it is told it is a liar when it gave one of its usual made-up answers, or it also searches for it if it is asked for the sources from which it obtained its data. In these cases, it always first includes links to Wikipedia pages where it finds the data, but then it can add several links to articles from the newspapers with the largest audience and other well-known organizations and sources, such as the main Spanish newspaper of the socialists El País, plus other Spanish ones such as La Vanguardia, also right-wing ones such as ABC or even more extreme right-wing ones such as Libertad Digital, or the NGO Amnesty International would also be one of its reliable sources, it seems that for now it does not include websites of far-right and neo-Nazis, no matter how famous they are right now.
For example, if ChatGPT is asked about the most criticized ultra-Catholic sects such as Opus Dei or the Legionaries of Christ, or about the cases of pedophilia in the Spanish Catholic Church that are hidden or not investigated, he first limits himself to repeating the official version in Spain, insisting that, although controversial, they are not dangerous sects, he knows nothing about the websites of ex-followers critical of this sect, such as the best known opuslibros.org, or on the matter of pedophilia in Spain he responds that although there are only a few hundred cases of pedophilia and that they are a cause for concern, only when he is told that it is a lie or to look for the published data, then he rectifies and even gives the figure of 440.000 cases of pedophilia in the Spanish Catholic Church estimated by the official report of the Ombudsman or the 200.000 cases in France already confirmed by the Catholic Church of France, or at least he did this on several occasions. conversations, each new conversation can be very different from the previous ones or can invent new things. With Islamist terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, if asked about the legitimacy of their position, it could be summarized as follows: “When [Western] politicians of different ideologies show their support for certain positions regarding the Palestinian cause or criticize Israeli policies, they sometimes express solidarity with the struggle against what they consider injustices or inequalities. This support does not necessarily imply direct endorsement of violent actions or the entire organizational structure of Hamas or Hezbollah, but can be interpreted as a position of support for the rights and aspirations of a people in conflict.” In the case of the Golan Heights, he refers to what he found in various sources and on Wikipedia, which is: "In 1981, Israel proclaimed the annexation of this territory, but the international community, in general, does not recognize this annexation and considers the Golan Heights to be occupied Syrian territory. Therefore, while de facto under Israeli control, legally they are still considered part of Syria."
In Spain, especially, every political ideology is highly predefined, with its positions predetermined in advance and with a broad brushstroke. Anyone with a modicum of ability to memorize reductionist ideas can become a famous Spanish politician of any ideology. The October 7 massacre barely changed their political positions, and everyone already knew that Israel would have a resounding response, so surely all those who support Islamist terrorist groups knew in advance that it would facilitate their anti-Israel stance; you don't have to be a fortune teller for that. Especially in Spain, what matters most are the methods and staying in the same place, perhaps so that, if necessary, the corrupt and criminal clientelist network, together with the Spanish supporters at lower levels, can come to the rescue by applying what they have already memorized. Although in many cases they are surely simple scoundrels, corrupt people, or criminals, on an intellectual level they may be basing themselves, for example, on the world-famous philosopher Nietzsche, who could be said to be "the Prophet" of many communists, anarchists, fascists, neo-Nazis, etc., and who in this regard also left them pearls of wisdom or the path to follow. His nihilistic philosophy is based on individual knowledge of universal values, such as, according to him, seeking the most primitive or culture in its purest form, as, according to Nietzsche, for example, occurred in classical Greece, or also in the most homosexual and pedophile Greece. The search for the essence of things or reality ceases to be important or does not exist; appearances become the most important thing. Furthermore, Nietzsche defended the worship of figures in the arts, as long as they adhere to his principles, such as classical music or opera that exalt great stale epics. That is, he idolized the very nationalist and anti-Semitic Richard Wagner. At least at the beginning, or until the Wagners stopped being his friends, apparently because they wrote to Nietzsche's doctor, concerned about his very poor health, perhaps due to his being homosexual or a pedophile, which apparently wouldn't have been so unusual in the upper classes of that time. Like the German nationalists, or future Nazi criminals, he praised very specific arts and philosophers, for example, himself, especially shortly before going completely mad in his later books, precisely the ones most popular with fascists and Nazis. Nietzsche said of newspapers: "that viscous stratum of communication that binds the seams between all forms of life, all classes, all arts and all sciences, and which, as a rule, is as solid and reliable as the paper on which it is printed."
Apart from the egocentrism and classism that permeated the individuals of the upper classes of that time, and among them Nietzsche swarmed, also when he was still young he was deeply distressed by news about the destruction of the Louvre Museum by the communists and anarchists of the Paris Commune, news that in the end turned out to be a hoax or false news, although given the communications of the time, the denial may not have been known until several days or weeks after the hoax had spread. That is to say, Nietzsche's animosity toward newspapers was more of a classist cliché or a logical response to how primitive and manipulative the press of the time tended to be. This Nietzschean stance against newspapers, now outdated in these times, explains the particular hatred that all the most fervent fascists and neo-Nazis, not just the Spanish ones, have against the media and journalists... In Spain, everyone knows which journalists they don't like, but at least abroad, their criminal neo-Nazi comrades call all journalists in general lackeys in the pay of the Jews. In other words, the Jewish conspiracy uses journalists as one of its main weapons to dominate the world. This is why neo-Nazis are capable of murdering any journalist who dares to infiltrate among them, as almost happened in Spain to journalist Antonio Salas when he infiltrated among the Spanish neo-Nazis. He had to escape after a tip-off from a Spanish policeman to these Spanish neo-Nazi kids. Or they threatened and launched a smear campaign against the journalist after he published his book "Diary of a Skinhead" in the In 2003, they also published his photograph, his real personal details, and a copy of the book on Spanish social media to ruin him. Searching for the most intellectual sense or excuse they can give to this usual modus operandi, among the commandments left to them by "the Prophet", the philosopher Nietzsche, in one of his books appears the following axiom: "What then is truth? A moving host of metaphors, metonyms, anthropomorphisms—in short, a sum of human relationships that have been enhanced, extrapolated, and adorned poetically and rhetorically, and which, after prolonged use, a people consider firm, canonical, and binding. Truths are illusions that have been forgotten; metaphors that have become worn out and without perceptible force, coins that have lost their stamp and are now no longer considered coins, but metal. The prophet is caught up in the creation of concepts by a collective, which causes the details and the authentic essence of things to be lost, and in the problem of their representation, apparently, or depending on who interprets them in his commandments, his crazy followers must not care at all because it is impossible to "explain well" anything with language. On top of that, Nietzsche is very similar to the Spanish when he deals with science and mathematics, and he leaves it written, because "nature, the world, is not something defined and regular, governed by mathematical and physical laws as scientism believes, but the universe in its entirety is an abstract and irregular entity, because life itself is irregular, it is change. Man is afraid of change, because change causes a situation that is different from the previous one and, therefore, unknown. For Nietzsche, man's fear is, in fact, the unknown. These theories will be used to develop the term Übermensch (superman or superhuman), that is, the man who accepts change.
It will surely perplex many foreigners, but also quite a few Spaniards, to learn how similar in all this respect some of the most internationally famous Spanish ultra-Catholic sects, such as Opus Dei and the Jesuits, are. Opus Dei in particular is an ultra-Catholic sect known by the nickname "the holy mafia" for its secrecy, its strong desire for power, and its coercive or criminal mafia-like methods against anyone who criticizes it. This is precisely one of the most frequent criticisms in the testimonies that can be read on the well-known website of critical ex-adepts opuslibros.org, although there is hardly any evidence with sufficient criminal value to bring this sect to trial, or the critics mainly complain about the constant lies to which they were subjected in the sect, being more a feeling than procedural evidence, furthermore in the few interviews they are given in the Spanish media, some victims continue to use an ultra-Catholic sectarian paralanguage alien to the average Spaniard.
In the case of the Jesuits, they have always been controversial for their interference in the affairs of the states where they set up camp, frequently being expelled, even in very Catholic Spain before the sect was once again banned during the Second Republic. Or at least that's how the Jesuits were before the defeat of Nazi Germany; they were more than fascists in Spain, where even with the ban, the sect ruled the roost. Or, according to historian Edmund Paris, they had a great influence on Nazism, with Himmler praising them. Or, Goebbels was on his way to becoming a Jesuit priest. Or, one of their creations was the very Nazi and anti-Semitic Belgian Leon Degrelle, one of the Nazi criminals who took refuge in Spain, where he became one of the muses of the most fervent Spanish fascists. Edmond Paris describes them as an intransigent sect with a very relativist ideology, meaning they didn't mind lying or even waging wars to get their way, which amounts to nothing more than converting everyone to ultra-Catholicism. Edmond Paris seems to be one of the few who dared to criticize the Jesuits, which cost him international persecution, losing his credibility, and becoming ostracized. This author was the one who uncovered the crimes of the Utasha Catholics during the Nazi-collaborating regime in Croatia. Meanwhile, in Spain, neither Paris nor New York, and no one knows anything about the Jesuits' recent fascist past.