London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Wikipedia blames pro-China infiltration for bans

Wikipedia blames pro-China infiltration for bans

Wikipedia has suffered an "infiltration" that sought to advance the aims of China, the US non-profit organisation that owns the volunteer-edited encyclopaedia has said.

The Wikimedia Foundation told BBC News the infiltration had threatened the "very foundations of Wikipedia".

The foundation banned seven editors linked to a mainland China group.

Wikimedians of Mainland China accused the foundation of "baselessly slandering a small group of people".

'Rapid response'


"This case is unprecedented in scope," foundation vice-president Maggie Dennis said, in a note to volunteers.

And she told BBC News the foundation had been investigating the infiltration of Chinese-language Wikipedia for nearly a year.

But this summer, "credible threats" to volunteers' safety had "led us to prioritise rapid response".

The foundation was battling against "capture", where a group gains control of the editing of the Wikipedia to favour a particular viewpoint, Ms Dennis wrote.

And it has recently set up a disinformation team.

'Controlling content'


In this case, the infiltrators had tried to promote "the aims of China, as interpreted through whatever filters they may bring to bear", Ms Dennis told BBC News.

"Controlling content was an aim," she said.

But she also said: "I am not in position to point fingers at the Chinese state nor in possession of information that would lead me to do so."

Edit battles have contested Wikipedia articles about political events in Hong Kong

However, "long and deep investigations" into Wikimedians of Mainland China, a group claiming to have about 300 members, had resulted in the banning of seven users and the removal of administrator privileges from a further 12, Wikipedia said.

And there had been concern elections for powerful administrator roles were being manipulated and the process of editing risked being overwhelmed.

Other editors have also been asked to modify their behaviour.

In a post in response to the bans, Wikimedians of Mainland China accused the foundation of acting contrary to the "feelings and opinions of the community".

But Ms Dennis said the foundation had acted in awareness of conflict between mainland China based Wikimedians and volunteers in Hong Kong.

In July, the Hong Kong Free Press reported "battles between competing editors" over articles describing political events.

And the situation worsened after the closure of Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper and the arrest of its top executives,

Mainland editors were increasingly "pushing for the use of Chinese state media as reliable news sources" in Wikipedia articles, the Hong Kong Free Press alleged.
People queue to buy the last edition of Apple Daily

People queue to buy the last edition of Apple Daily

And it revealed some had discussed reporting Hong Kong editors to the city's national security police hotline, in online chat groups.

Some members of the Hong Kong Wikipedia community were now fearful of "commenting on politically sensitive articles", Hong Kong Free Press reporter Selina Cheng told BBC News.

"Hong Kong users feared they may be targeted as a result of their identities being known," she said.

And they asked the Wikimedia Foundation's Trust and Safety team to help them.

'Biasing information'


Weeks earlier, the foundation, responding to a security warning, had restricted access to personally identifiable information in two jurisdictions where access to Wikipedia was blocked - including China.

It had feared volunteers - some of whom are young - could be exploited or compelled to share personal data by "state actors or others with an interest in biasing information".

Ms Dennis said the "software" showed the foundation's actions had worked and no data had been misused.

But the latest action to counter infiltration had been necessary because individuals had inadvertently put themselves at risk by sharing information about themselves, "such as attending local meetings or sharing personal email addresses" with other users.

'Risked harm'


"When the foundation has credible information that some volunteers may not be interacting in good faith - and in this case, there was plenty - we may feel it necessary to protect the community by removing those individuals from access," she said.

"In such cases, users are banned."

Ms Dennis said she was keen none of the steps taken to protect Wikipedia should discourage Chinese-speakers from joining the community - or volunteers in China who had worked "for free and open knowledge" and may have risked harm by doing so.

To the 4,000 Chinese language Wikimedians she wrote: "We are committed to supporting you in doing this work into the future, with the tools you need to succeed in a safe, secure,and productive environment."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×