Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales boldly declared that the site is ‘not for sale’ after Elon Musk offered $1billion if they change its name to ‘D***ipedia’.
The billionaire – who has accused founder Jimmy Wales of showing its ‘non-trivial left-wing bias’ in the past – was responding to Wikipedia’s donation appeal for the year.
‘I will give them a billion dollars if they change their name to D–kipedia,’ Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
On Tuesday, two funding messages appeared on top of many of the site’s pages seeming to refute Musk, headlined either ‘Wikipedia: not beholden to anyone but you’ or ‘Wikipedia is not for sale.’
‘We’re sorry to interrupt, but today’s fundraiser won’t last long. Our nonprofit asks for your support,’ it read.
‘Wikipedia was one of the first spaces online where you could learn for free, without ads.’
They then claimed that just two percent of readers actually donate and pleaded for people using the site to give to the Wikimedia Foundation.
Musk and Wales have clashed in the past, with Musk joking that Wikipedia should add that he made the offer to his bio page, which he said includes the cow and poop emojis after he criticized the Wikipedia Foundation.
Earlier this week, Wales slammed Musk’s running of the social media behemoth in a post on his X account while commenting on the fallout from Hamas’ shock terror attack on Israel.
‘Fast moving claims and counter claims, and @elonmusk has removed all the core features that made it even remotely possible to tell real journalists from fakes.’
In an additional message signed by Wales himself, he wrote to Wikipedia users that it ‘is hard to know what to trust online these days’ in encouraging people to donate.
‘Disinformation and scammers are everywhere. Wikipedia is different: not perfect, but also not here to make a profit or to push a particular perspective. It is written by everyone, together.’
‘Wikipedia is something we all share, like a library or a public park,’ Wales added.
‘We are passionate about our model because we want everyone to have equal access to high-quality information – something that is becoming harder and harder to find online.’
Musk combined his offer with a post wondering why Wikipedia constantly needed to fundraise.
‘Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money? It certainly isn’t needed to operate Wikipedia,’ he wrote Sunday. ‘You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone!
‘So, what’s the money for? Inquiring minds want to know…’
Musk received a ‘community note’ – a fact-checking mechanism he has implemented since buying the site – correcting him and noting that in 2022 Wikimedia had $154million in revenue but $145million in expenses.
‘The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable non-profit, providing free access to Wikipedia,’ the note claimed.
‘While a text & English-only copy of Wikipedia is about 51GB, adding all media + supported languages brings it to 428TB.’ In 2022 Wikimedia had $154million in revenue with $145million in expenses.
He joked with journalist and Brian Krassenstein that the offer was only for ‘one year minimum. I mean, I’m a not fool lol.’
In December of 2022, the billionaire CEO accused the website of showing its ‘non-trivial left-wing bias’ by debating deleting an article about the newly released Twitter files, which show how staff suppressed tweets and stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The Wikipedia entry for the investigation now has a note saying it is being ‘considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia’s deletion policy’.
On its deletion discussion page, editors brand the Twitter files a ‘nothing burger’ and ‘not notable’.
Musk seized on the debate, saying it shows how Wikipedia, like the mainstream media, has a left-wing bias that is acting against his agenda.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘Most of Earth: ‘The MSM is biased.’ Wikipedia: ‘Cite MSM source to confirm this claim.’ ‘Wikipedia has a non-trivial left-wing bias.’
The row came after Musk fired his general counsel James A. Baker, citing his alleged involvement in suppressing the release of internal documents about the Hunter Biden scandal.
‘In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today,’ Musk wrote in a tweet on Tuesday.
Musk added that Baker’s explanation of the events surrounding the laptop saga was ‘unconvincing.’
