Wikipedia’s nonprofit status questioned by D.C. U.S. attorney Ed Martin
The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia sent a letter to the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, accusing the tax-exempt organization of “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public.”
In the letter dated April 24, Ed Martin, said he sought to determine whether the Wikimedia Foundation’s behavior is in violation of its Section 501(c)(3) status. Martin, who was appointed to the post by President Donald Trump in January, asked the foundation to provide detailed information about its editorial process, its trust and safety measures, and how it protects its information from foreign actors.
“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. “Masking propaganda that influences public opinion under the guise of providing informational material is antithetical to Wikimedia’s ‘educational’ mission.”
The letter, which was earlier reported by the Free Press, is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration and its allies, including Martin, against institutions, media outlets and online platforms they have accused of pushing liberal agendas or political views. It builds on growing conservative criticism of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is collaboratively written and edited by thousands of volunteer contributors from around the world.
Some of the contentions in Martin’s letter echoed a report published in March by the Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish civil rights organization, alleging “widespread antisemitic and anti-Israel bias on Wikipedia.” The ADL had previously criticized Wikipedia in 2024 after the encyclopedia’s contributors collectively downgraded the ADL’s reliability rating as a source on topics related to the Israel-Palestine conflict. [Continue reading…]