What’s New
Elon Musk has urged his followers not to donate to Wikipedia, which he branded “Wokepedia,” until “they restore balance to their editing authority.”
The tech billionaire made the claim on X, which he owns, in response to another user who shared a graph from the online encyclopedia’s 2023-4 annual report that showed 29 percent of its budget had been spent on “equity” and “safety & inclusion.”
Newsweek contacted Wikipedia and Elon Musk, via the Tesla and SpaceX press offices, by email on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
According to data from digital marketing platform Semrush, in November 2024 Wikipedia was the fourth-most-visited website in the world, with monthly traffic of around 6.7 billion visits.
Wikipedia’s popularity, combined with the fact it provides information about notable political figures and events, make it highly influential. The platform can be edited by anybody, meaning the pages of controversial individuals are often fought over by multiple users with different views about the content.