Viral video raises claims Wikipedia censored data about US elections and COVID-19

Helen Partz10 hours agoViral video raises claims Wikipedia censored data about US elections and COVID-19Former CEO Katherine Maher said in a now-viral video that Wikipedia sought to fight disinformation about U.S. elections and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which critics allege constituted censorship.2228 Total views4 Total sharesListen to article 0:00NewsOwn this piece of crypto historyCollect this article as NFTJoin us on social networksThe question of whether mainstream media is a trustworthy source of information has been raised once again amid an ongoing scandal involving NPR CEO Katherine Maher.

The resignation of NPR senior business editor Uri Berliner has shocked many in the media industry, with various politicians, activists and editors blasting NPR CEO and former Wikimedia CEO Maher after Berliner resigned after reportedly facing backlash for criticizing the outlet in an op-ep for The Free Press.

Some critics moved to support the former NPR editor, with activist Christopher Rufo posting a video where Maher admitted that Wikipedia sought to fight disinformation during the 2020 U.S. elections and the COVID-19 pandemic — which some, including Rufo, decry as censorship. 

Although the video was made during an online panel discussion at the 360/Open Summit held by the Atlantic Council in 2021, Maher’s speech has gone viral on the social media platform X amid Berliner’s resignation.

“We took a very active approach to disinformation and misinformation coming into not just the last election but also looking at how we supported our editing community in an unprecedented moment where we were not only dealing with the global pandemic,” Maher says in the video.

She said that the Wikimedia Foundation, the owner of Wikipedia, set up “sort of a clearinghouse of information” in response to the election and the pandemic so the editors could cooperate with the government to “identify threats.”Source: Elon Musk

In the same speech, Maher reportedly stated that she sees the First Amendment of the United States, which guarantees freedom of speech, as the “number one challenge” to fighting disinformation.

These speech protections, Maher continued, make it “tricky” to suppress “bad information” and the “influence peddlers who have made a real market economy around it.”

Maher’s resurfaced statements have drawn the attention of prominent commenters, including X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

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“This keeps getting crazier! The head of NPR hates the Constitution of the USA,” Musk commented while reposting Rufo’s video. Musk also said he wasn’t surprised by the allegations against Wikipedia.

The accusations that Wikipedia was censoring content contrasts with recent remarks by Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, who reiterated that freedom of speech is Telegram’s top priority in an interview with Tucker Carlson on April 17.

Durov also claimed that he owns zero “big assets” like land or real estate and prefers owning Bitcoin (BTC) and cash because he cherishes his freedom and is focused on doing his best for Telegram.

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