Twitter CEO Elon Musk is accusing Wikipedia of being liberal-leaning in light of its decision to potentially delete the Twitter Files page from its website. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is going head-to-head with Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who has accused the encyclopedia site of having a left-leaning bias. The back and forth began following the overly dramatic release of the Twitter Files which alleged the FBI pressured social media companies to suppress information surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020.
One user tweeted on Tuesday that Wikipedia was “voting to delete the entry for Elon Musk’s Twitter files” because the editors thought it was a “nothing burger” that was “not noteworthy.” The user shared screenshots of Wikipedia editors voting to delete the article, with one commenter saying that what was on Hunter Biden’s laptop was “a nothing event about another nothing event.”
Musk responded by saying, “Most of the world says, ‘The MSM is biased.’ Wikipedia says, ‘Cite the MSM source to confirm this claim.’ Wikipedia has a non-trivial left bias.'” He then tagged Wales with the question, “What do you think?” Wales didn’t respond. Last week, Musk hinted at the release of the “Twitter files,” saying he would expose the platform’s “suppression of free speech” before taking over. Journalist Matt Taibbi, at Elon Musk’s request, published a tweet thread on Friday showing internal communications between Twitter executives and Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.
The campaign had requested that leaked explicit images of Hunter Biden be removed from Twitter after he allegedly left his laptop at a Delaware repair shop. The photos were posted on Twitter in violation of the company’s revenge porn policy. Critics, on the other hand, saw it as the social media platform’s bias toward Democratic politicians; Musk even calls it a “violation of the First Amendment.”
Now, the topic of Twitter files is up for deletion on Wikipedia, which has sparked debate online, particularly regarding how the web’s largest encyclopedia presents its viewpoint on the subject. Wales is not interested in selling the company to anyone, including Musk, who owns Twitter and is well-known for his support of the Twitter Files controversy.