Wikipedia blocks access for US politicians after ‘disruptive’ changes

Wikipedia has made it impossible for ten days to just edit Wikipedia pages with a computer of the US House of Representatives. According to founder Jimmy Wales, “continuous, disruptive adjustments” are the reason.

According to the BBC, the changes mainly related to pages about companies and politicians. For example, former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was portrayed as ‘an alien lizard’, while in another case Cuba was behind the assassination attempt on former President John F. Kennedy. When the news site Mediaite was finally dismissed as ‘sexist’ and ‘transphobic’, the organization behind the internet encyclopedia intervened.

Wikipedia says that all IP addresses belonging to the House of Representatives have been blocked for at least ten days. The decision follows in particular because adjustments are more noticeable due to the arrival of Twitter accounts such as Congress Edits, which reports pages edited by anyone within the United States Congress. There is a similar account.

It is not yet clear who is behind the controversial changes, but someone from the US Congress suggests that it could be the action of two or three people. Founder Jimmy Wales tells the BBC that there has always been and will be vandalism on Wikipedia, but he also thinks Twitter accounts like Congress edits can act as a catalyst, providing a stage.