The Saudi Arabian government infiltrated Wikipedia with the aim to control the content on the website, a report said. Saudi Arabia also jailed its two high-ranking officials of Wikipedia Osama Khalid and Ziyad al-Sofiani for “swaying public opinion” and “violating public morals”, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) reported.
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Both were sentenced to five and eight years as the authorities believed that they shared information which was critical about political activists in Saudi Arabia, the report said. Following their arrest, Saudi Arabia continued to infiltrate Wikipedia by recruiting the organization’s highest-ranked administrators to serve as government agents to control information about the country, the report claimed.
Earlier, after the investigation, Wikimedia, the parent company of Wikipedia, terminated all of its administrators in Saudi Arabia.
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“The Saudi government’s infiltration of Wikipedia with government agents acting as independent editors, and imprisonment of non-compliant editors, demonstrates not only its persistent use of spies inside international organizations but the dangers of attempting to produce independent content in the country,” Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN’s executive director said.
Wikipedia depends on volunteers who serve as administrators and editors and are called “Wikipedia users,” authorized by Wikimedia. These users are not employees of Wikimedia and do not receive any compensation for their work. But the company grants them the privilege of being independent editors who self-regulate and administer content.
