JAKARTA - Larry Sanger, one of the founders of Wikipedia, said something surprising. He said Wikipedia is now no longer a reliable source of information. Sanger acknowledged, he created Wikipedia with neutrality. But now, Wikipedia has turned into a kind of propaganda site and the interests of parties.
“Can you trust him to always give you the truth? Well, it depends on what you think about the truth, "said Sanger as quoted from The Independent, Thursday 22 July.
Sanger adds that left-leaning online encyclopedia volunteers often change whatever news they don't like, and change it according to their interests. This is certainly contrary to the value of the company he built in 2001 with his partner, Jimmy Wales.
For example, such as informational articles about the scandal related to the President of the United States (US) Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
“Biden's article, if you look at it, very little concern Republicans have about him. So if you want to have something similar to the Republican point of view on Biden, you're not going to get that from the article," Sanger said.
The information found in Biden's article is also highly biased and is strictly for defense purposes only. Sanger also says there are companies that hire paid writers and editors to step in and edit the articles.
“There might be some way to make such a system work, but not if the players involved and the ones being paid aren't identified by name — they should actually be identified by name and say 'we represent this company' if they were officially registered with some sort of editing company. Wikipedia," said Sanger.
“Wikipedia is now known by everyone to have a lot of influence in the world. So there's a really big, nasty, complex game being played behind the scenes to make articles say what someone wants them to say. Wikipedia was not like that," concluded Sanger.
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