Trump's D.C. Prosecutor Is Going After Wikipedia For Allegedly Spreading 'Propaganda'
Source: Huff Post
Apr 26, 2025, 02:51 PM EDT | Updated 9 minutes ago
The nonprofit group that runs Wikipedia was threatened by Ed Martin, the interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, in a letter accusing it of allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public. Wikipedia is permitting information manipulation on its platform, including the rewriting of key, historical events and biographical information of current and previous American leaders, as well as other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States, Martin wrote in a letter dated Thursday that was first reported by The Free Press.
The letter accuses the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization behind the online encyclopedia, of violating a tax code that requires nonprofits to operate exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes. Investigations into the tax-exempt statuses of nonprofits are usually handled by the Internal Revenue Service, not criminal prosecutors, The Free Press noted, citing the IRS complaint process.
Martin said in the letter that his office received information that Wikipedias information management policies have benefited foreign powers. He claimed that Wikipedia subverts the interests of American taxpayers due to its board being made up primarily of foreign nationals.
Masking propaganda that influences public opinion under the guise of providing informational material is antithetical to Wikimedias educational mission, Martin wrote. Martin had no experience as a prosecutor before President Donald Trump appointed him to his current role on an interim basis in January. Trump has since nominated him to remain in the position permanently.
Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ed-martin-trump-threathens-wikipedia_n_680d17bbe4b06b5c9fc8d713

vapor2
(2,163 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(54,990 posts)Lovie777
(18,144 posts)bucolic_frolic
(50,014 posts)America is being stripped of its right to think. Once they sterilize all thought, USA will be uncompetitive with everywhere.
thought crime
(178 posts)Same with many other topics.
AllaN01Bear
(24,862 posts)AllaN01Bear
(24,862 posts)SunSeeker
(55,540 posts)
Iamscrewed
(164 posts)Funny about who's bitching about propaganda now 🤔
eppur_se_muova
(38,939 posts)GenThePerservering
(2,814 posts)are the fucking communists.
Botany
(73,956 posts)





Please mother fuckers. In 2016 the Trump campaign didnt get foreign help?
So Russia didnt hacked the DNC and HRCs servers and then edited the data and then sent it back as
complete misinformation via Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, Fox, and social media?
elleng
(139,252 posts)Jack Valentino
(1,910 posts)are certainly guilty of it!
DFW
(57,833 posts)Then, he'll really have his hands full!
groundloop
(12,791 posts)We're sure the hell seeing history repeating itself, I pray this madman can be stopped while we still have something resembling a country.
Historic NY
(38,898 posts)There are lots of counties with Wikipedia
Lionel Mandrake
(4,161 posts)It sounds as if Wikipedia is doing something right.
I just sent them some money.
oldmanlynn
(644 posts)They are only trying to silence opposition. We have to stand up against this.
Jarqui
(10,629 posts)permits "information manipulation ... including the rewriting of key, historical events and biographical information of current and previous American leaders, as well as other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States,
JohnnyRingo
(19,864 posts)Or that climate change is real.
You know, all the woke stuff.
Astraea
(528 posts)As is South Afrikkkan Xitter-in-chief Musk?
twodogsbarking
(13,465 posts)ancianita
(40,368 posts)Martin can "accuse" and harass all he wants while he wastes taxpayer money. Wikipedia should file suit against Martin and demand discovery. If an acting head of government is alleged to have violated someone's constitutional rights while acting within their official capacity, a lawsuit could be brought against them in their individual capacity.
sop
(13,868 posts)Trump has appointed and nominated a lot of thoroughly corrupt scumbags to important positions, but this guy takes the prize.
The Wizard
(13,143 posts)Trump's Russian propaganda outlet also known as Pox (deliberate typo) News.
Kid Berwyn
(20,111 posts)By Reuters, August 16, 2007
By Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People using CIA and FBI computers have edited entries in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia on topics including the Iraq war and the Guantanamo prison, according to a new tracing program.
The changes may violate Wikipedia's conflict-of-interest guidelines, a spokeswoman for the site said on Thursday.
The program, WikiScanner, was developed by Virgil Griffith of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico and posted this month on a Web site that was quickly overwhelmed with searches.
The program allows users to track the source of computers used to make changes to the popular Internet encyclopedia where anyone can submit and edit entries.
WikiScanner revealed that CIA computers were used to edit an entry on the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. A graphic on casualties was edited to add that many figures were estimated and were not broken down by class.
Another entry on former CIA chief William Colby was edited by CIA computers to expand his career history and discuss the merits of a Vietnam War rural pacification program that he headed.
Continues
https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/cia-and-fbi-computers-used-for-wikipedia-edits-idUSN16428960/
Ed Martin must be a fucking moron. Nobody tell him.
PS: The Vietnam War rural pacification program Colby headed was Operation PHOENIX . . it murdered more than 40,000 people merely on suspicion of being, or just helping, the communist North..
ancianita
(40,368 posts)for what others in this government do. Wikipedia's huge team are smart enough to have WikiScanner developed so as to know how to trace edits to original IP addresses, although IP's would've been harder for WikiScanner to trace if the CIA (which uses Tor for comms and intel gathering purposes) & FBI had used Tor routing.
Historic NY
(38,898 posts)I wonder how AI is going to impact Wiki, because there is a lot of misinformation coming in droves.
GreenWave
(11,100 posts)SupportSanity
(1,404 posts)This stuff is going to take money. And the other side now has pro-bono attorneys.
I wish there was more I can do.
Trumped up charges are going to be flying fast and furious at favorite institutions.
Support them if you can.
Donate to libraries, wikipedia, protest groups, whatever you can.
Now is the time. There might not be a later.