The owner of Wikipedia has denied the Saudi government infiltrated its Middle Eastern team.
Wikimedia, the parent company of the online encyclopedia – which relies on admin and editing volunteers – has refuted allegations that officials from the Saudi government removed content from its website.
The claims came after an internal investigation that led to 16 users being suspended for “conflict of interest” moderation in the Middle East.
Wikimedia reported “material inaccuracies” had been put on the site but there was no proof government infiltration had been made.
However, SMEX, a Lebanon-based advocacy group and Democracy for the Arab World, the US-based organisation founded by Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist murdered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, alleged the Saudi government got agents to pose as editors to “control information about the country” shared on the website.
They also claim two “high-ranking administrators in Saudi Arabia” were arrested in September 2020 and indicted on charges connected to “swaying public opinion” and “violating public morals” before being jailed for five and eight years, respectively.
Last year, Wikimedia shared 16 suspensions in regards to “engaging in conflict of interest editing on Wikipedia projects” in the Middle East region.
They said: “We were able to confirm that a number of users with close connections with external parties were editing the platform in a co-ordinated fashion to advance the aim of those parties.”
SMEX and DAWN alleged that some of these people – based on their “sources with knowledge of Wikimedia’s operations” – were working on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government to “promote positive content about the government and delete content critical of the government”.
Wikimedia has fought back against these allegations, deeming it “unlikely to be the case” but admitted some people banned “may have been Saudi”.
The Saudi Arabian government has not commented on the claims.
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