Jimmy Wales Refuses to Edit Donald Trump’s Wikipedia Page
▼ Summary
– Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s founder, is described as a low-key figure who avoids the performative power games of the tech elite.
– He promotes a new book, “The Seven Rules of Trust,” which uses Wikipedia’s strategy as a model for fixing societal polarization.
– In an interview, he discussed Wikipedia’s human origins, challenges to its neutrality, and threats from AI and conspiracy theorists.
– Wales avoids online arguments on toxic topics like trans issues and explicitly trusts Wikipedia more than ChatGPT.
– He appreciates the thoughtful communities on Reddit and values living in London for its diverse social and professional circles.
As Wikipedia celebrates its 25th anniversary, its founder Jimmy Wales remains a distinct figure in the tech world, prioritizing the platform’s foundational principles of trust and neutral information over the growth-at-all-costs mentality that defines much of the industry. In a recent conversation, Wales reflected on the challenges of maintaining those principles in an era of deep polarization, the threats posed by artificial intelligence, and his steadfast refusal to personally edit certain high-profile entries, including the page for Donald Trump.
Wales, who is currently promoting a book on building trust in fractured societies, maintains a notably low-key profile compared to many of his peers. His recent personal obsession involves troubleshooting a home automation system, not the performative power games common in Silicon Valley. This grounded approach extends to his view of online discourse; he explicitly avoids engaging in toxic debates, citing topics like transgender issues as areas where productive conversation seems impossible.
The discussion naturally turned to the reliability of information in the digital age. When asked to choose between Wikipedia and the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, Wales’s allegiance was unequivocal. He expressed a clear preference for the human-curated, citation-driven model of his encyclopedia over the statistically generated, and sometimes inaccurate, outputs of large language models. For thoughtful online interaction beyond Wikipedia, he pointed to specific communities on Reddit, praising them as spaces for genuine paragraph-length dialogue, a stark contrast to the often frenetic pace of other social platforms.
A significant portion of the conversation focused on the ongoing pressures facing Wikipedia. Wales detailed how the site has been targeted by governments and bad actors seeking to manipulate its content, from Russia to Saudi Arabia. He emphasized the constant struggle to uphold a neutral point of view in an online ecosystem increasingly hostile to the very concept of agreed-upon facts. New threats are also emerging, including the potential for AI tools to flood the platform with plausible but incorrect information and the influence of wealthy individuals pushing conspiracy theories.
Perhaps most notably, Wales addressed the question of his own editorial influence. He made it clear that he will never edit the Wikipedia entry for former President Donald Trump. This stance is rooted in a core tenet of Wikipedia’s governance: the founder does not hold special editorial privileges. He explained that such an action would undermine the community-driven process and the hard-earned trust the project relies upon. For Wales, the system’s integrity is paramount, and that means respecting the boundaries established by the volunteer community, even for the most scrutinized subjects.
Living in London, Wales appreciates the city’s diverse professional and social landscape, which offers a broader perspective than the more siloed environments of American tech hubs. This outlook seems to inform his approach to Wikipedia, a project designed not for a single audience or ideology, but as a shared resource built on collectively verified knowledge, a principle he continues to defend as the platform enters its next quarter-century.
(Source: Wired)
