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The encyclopedia Wikipedia: The parent company Wikimedia uses administrators to regulate, delete and manage contributions.
Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
The Saudi Arabian government is said to have recruited senior Wikipedia administrators as government agents to control content.
This is the result of research by the organizations Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN ) and SMEX , an organization for the protection of digital rights and freedoms based in Lebanon.
The NGOs gathered evidence through interviews with Wikipedia, related sources and imprisoned administrators.
Wikimedia justified ban with "conflicts of interest"
According to the report, Wikimedia, the foundation behind Wikipedia, imposed a “global ban” on 16 of its administrators in the world region MENA, short for “Middle East and North Africa”, after an internal investigation last year.
The company justified this at the beginning of December with “conflicts of interest”.
The 16 administrators were therefore the highest-ranking editorial team in the region.
They are said to have acted as agents for the Saudi Arabian government to distribute positive content and delete posts critical of the government, including information about political prisoners in the country.
Wikimedia works with volunteer administrators and editors, referred to as "Wikipedia users", who are authorized by Wikimedia.
They are not employees and receive no compensation.
However, they are considered trusted, independent editors and can regulate and manage content themselves.
Administrators have permission to edit, delete, and protect entries so that no one else can edit them.
Two administrators arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2020
According to DAWN and SMEX, two Wikipedia administrators were arrested in Saudi Arabia in September 2020.
Ossama Khalid and Ziyad al-Sofiani were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for "influencing public opinion" and "offending public decency".
Both organizations condemn the influence.
"The infiltration of Wikipedia is another example of the Saudi government's ongoing efforts to control online information and knowledge production in our region," said Mohamed Najem, executive director of SMEX.
It is disturbing that efforts to spread misinformation about grievances have now permeated an international platform as trusted and credible as Wikipedia.
DAWN and SMEX are demanding that Wikipedia publish the results of its investigation.
All pages edited by the Saudi Arabian team should be disclosed and subjected to independent verification.
Furthermore, sites controlled by administrators in authoritarian regimes should be provided with warnings that the content may be influenced by the government.
jpa