Elon Musk has called upon his admirers to suspend their contributions to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that he has designated as ‘Wokepedia,’ until it rectifies its editing oversight. The influential entrepreneur expressed this perspective through X, a platform he controls, reacting to a user who revealed a chart from the web encyclopedia’s 2023-4 fiscal report. It displayed that almost a third of its budget was apportioned to ‘equity’ and ‘safety & inclusivity.’
Based on statistics obtained from Semrush, a digital marketing agency, in November 2024, Wikipedia ranked as the fourth most frequented website globally, boasting nearly 6.7 billion visitors per month. The internet-based encyclopedia’s remarkable popularity, coupled with its role as a repository of considerable knowledge about influential politicians and key events, lends it a significant influence.
The fact that Wikipedia allows any user to edit its content implies that pages concerning contentious figures often become battlegrounds, with multiple users vying to shape the content according to their respective views. Musk endorsed a post by a powerful conservative-leaning account ‘Libs of TikTok,’ supplementing it with a plea to refrain from donating to ‘Wokepedia until they restore balance to their editing authority.’
The ‘Libs of TikTok’ account, operated by activist Chaya Raichik and followed by over 3.9 million people, initially posted ‘Wikipedia devotes over $50 million of its total $177 million budget to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Cease donations to Wokepedia.’ This post featured a screenshot of a chart from Wikipedia’s 2023-4 fiscal report, delineating its $177 million expenditure, which included $86.1 million on infrastructure, $31.2 million on equity, $20.5 million on security and inclusion, and $39.2 million on efficacy.
Wikipedia has been consistently criticized for its perceived biases from both sides of the political divide. A July 2018 Guardian article accused Wikipedia of fostering a ‘male-dominated, pro-western worldview,’ citing studies that showed a mere 16 percent of its editors were female. In 2024, computational science associate professor David Rozado from New Zealand’s Otago Polytechnic published research indicating that conservative figures are portrayed negatively on Wikipedia, unlike their left-leaning counterparts.
Rozado’s study examined Wikipedia’s ‘references to a plethora of politicians, journalists, and others,’ while scrutinizing ‘the collective sentiment…associated with 1,628 politically charged phrases’ on the platform. Addressing the ‘Libs of TikTok’ post about Wikipedia’s budget allocation, Alex Günsberg, a Ph.D., researcher in Finland, said: ‘Previously, I imagined Wikipedia was slanted due to leftist activists manipulating the articles systematically, and I frequently facetiously referred to it as Wokepedia. However, in light of the recent budget stats, it has become apparent that Wokepedia is not a mere jest—it’s an actuality.’
Despite this, a post on Bluesky, a rival to X, by a self-declared behavioral psychologist read: ‘The allegation that Wikipedia has evolved into ‘Wokepedia’ lacks compelling evidence—it’s baseless anecdotes, too few in number to bear any significant weight given Wikipedia’s vastness.’ Elon Musk’s outspoken support for Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential campaign, followed by his appointment as co-chair of the newly constituted Department of Government Efficiency, post the elections, further highlights the ongoing discourse.
The long-term implications of Musk’s latest statements on Wikipedia’s donation-based financial model remain uncertain. The website is maintained as a not-for-profit entity by the Wikimedia Foundation headquartered in San Francisco.