Overview
- Committee Chair James Comer and subcommittee Chair Nancy Mace sent an information request to Wikimedia CEO Maryana Iskander seeking documents on suspected manipulation of Wikipedia content.
- The request targets alleged coordination by foreign operations and actors linked to U.S. academic institutions and asks for Arbitration Committee files, neutrality policies, and internal analyses.
- The letter cites an Anti-Defamation League study that identified roughly 30 editors appearing to coordinate edits on Israel- and Palestine-related pages.
- Lawmakers also reference an Atlantic Council investigation into a Kremlin-linked effort dubbed the Pravda Network, which found 1,672 pages in 44 languages citing Russian government–linked sites and warned of effects on AI training.
- The Wikimedia Foundation told USA TODAY it will review the request and welcomed the chance to respond, while the Washington Examiner reported Wikimedia tax filings show grants to activist groups that run organized editing campaigns.