As the 2020 U.S. presidential election inches closer, much of the discourse around misinformation has centered on Facebookand Twitter.
However, there’s one popular platform that’s been missing from the conversation: Wikipedia.
The popular online encyclopedia has become more trusted over the years, yet anyone can edit it. A platform like that should be ripe for misinformation. Yet, the site’s army of volunteer editors have kept the site mostly free from “fake news.” And Wikipedia has already taken some action to maintain the integrity of the site before the election.
Last week, Wikipedia rolled out “extended confirmed protection” on its 2020 United States presidential electionpage, as first noticed by Wired. This classification blocks any users from making edits to this Wikipedia entry unless they have been a registered user for at least 30 days and have made a minimum of 500 edits on the site. The move should stop any newcomers joining the page just to cause havoc by publishing fake results.
Wikipedia administrators will also maintain a “watchlist” of political pages about congressional races, the election pages for each state, and other election-related entries.
A longtime Wikipedia editor told Wiredthat additional protections are expected to roll out as well. For example, the final election results will likely only be sourced by one of the more reputable news outlets, such as the Associated Press. An experienced page administrator will likely be the one granted the power to enter the final results on the page.
A scenario where nefarious users attempt to edit Wikipedia pages with unofficial or even entirely fabricated election results seems entirely plausible, if not expected. Wikipedia is preparing itself for this. We’ll see if it's effective next week.
TopicsSocial MediaElections
(责任编辑：百科)
Singapore gets world's first driverless taxisTwitter is finally testing an edit buttonTrump's Truth Social app has not been approved by Google's Play store yetScientists harness powers of Webb and Hubble in new stunning phantom galaxy imageUber's $100M settlement over drivers as contractors may not be enoughFake news reports from the Newseum are infinitely better than actual news
Actual investigative journalism: who needs it?At least, that's what some people will likely conclude
...[详细]'Andor' review: Star Wars tries something new, with mixed results
The rebellion against the Galactic Empire begins in earnest in the new Star Warsseries Andor, but go
...[详细]How to remove yourself from group texts on iOS and Android
Anyone who's gotten stuck in an unwanted group text knows how terrible it can be. Your phone blows u
...[详细]Mark Zuckerberg backtracks after Horizon Worlds backlash
After a week of being pelted with tomatoes in the internet town square over the low-quality graphics
...[详细]Mom discovers security cameras hacked, kids' bedroom livestreamed
A mother in Houston, Texas woke up one morning to pretty much every parent's worst-case scenario.。 "
...[详细]Apple announced the release of threenew Apple Watch models at the Apple event on Tuesday, so if your
...[详细]Apple announced the release of threenew Apple Watch models at the Apple event on Tuesday, so if your
...[详细]Cheaper Netflix may be coming, but it will come with a lot of caveats, it seems. According to a new
...[详细]We asked linguists if Donald Trump speaks like that on purpose
Donald Trump may do a good "drunk uncle at Thanksgiving" impersonation at his rallies, but amid all
...[详细]Pornhub responds to permanent Instagram ban in open letter
Pornhub was banned from Instagram earlier this month, leaving its 13 million followers sad, lonely,
...[详细]Airbnb activates disaster response site for Louisiana flooding
TikTok videos show heartwarming support for California's farmworkers
