Thread by @carljackmiller

Today we've published a @BBCClick investigation into the possible systematic, coordinated manipulation of Wikipedia by the Chinese State.

The programme is here: bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…

Article here: bbc.co.uk/news/technolog…

And a thread on what we found below: below:

The investigation began because of two documents. One written by an official, another by state-linked researchers. Both argue that Wikipedia is highly influential, but full of misconceptions and prejudices against China, it's govt. and leaders. One calls for 'cultivating editors'

We went to Taiwan, and interviewed members of Wikimedia Taiwan, and Taiwanese Wikipedia admins. They told us struggles across a range of topics were happening in both Chinese and English, amidst an atmosphere of increasing intimidation and abuse.

We then did our own investigation, finding nearly 1600 tendentious edits across roughly 20 articles on sensitive political/social topics. Often the arguments were over connotation and language (protestors or rioters?) as much as hard questions of fact.

Caveats to this story are important: it's almost impossible to attribute activity on Wikipedia to anyone, let alone a state. We don't know how widespread the activity is, and did not uncover hidden coordination. China and Taiwan are locked in their own geopolitical struggles.

The investigation happens of course against the background of information warfare breaking out across social media. And Wikipedia, with huge audiences and high trust, makes for a tempting, obvious target by states.

This could be a clash between two different philosophies for the Internet. Wikipedia's world of open-source, open-knowledge volunteer-based communities now confronting the logic of states and geopolitics that are fast moving into the online worlds now so central to our lives.

Huge thanks to everyone who contributed to this investigation, and especially @Shi13511933 for producing it.