'Extremely Left Biased' Wikipedia To Be Barred As Source For X's Community Notes? Elon Musk Backs Call From Online Encyclopedia's Co-Founder

Elon Musk, the tech mogul and owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), has backed Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger's call to ban the online encyclopedia as a source for X's Community Notes.

Community Notes is a feature on X where contributors can add context such as fact-checks under a post, image or video. It is a community-driven content moderation program, intended to provide helpful and informative context, based on a crowd-sourced system.

In a post on X on Friday (8 August), Sanger flagged "disturbing" influence of Wikipedia on X's community notes, and urged Musk to conduct a poll on whether the online encyclopedia should be banned from X.

"Hey @elonmusk, as a critical co-founder of Wikipedia, I find disturbing the influence that Wikipedia has over the Community Notes on X. Why not ask the people, “Should Wikipedia be banned as a usable source for Community Notes purposes on X? Vox populi, vox Dei.”," Musk said.

Responding to Langer's post, Musk stated, "I agree that Wikipedia cannot be used as a definitive source for Community Notes, as the editorial control there is extremely left-biased (and nihilistic imo). Actual source material, not derivative, matters much more."

Musk's emphasis on primary sources over derivatives like Wikipedia could reshape X's moderation strategy, potentially boosting user trust.

This comes amidst a flurry of controversies surrounding Wikipedia's neutrality.

A March 2025 report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) accused the platform of antisemitic and anti-Israel biases in its coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict, labelling it as unreliable for such topics.

A November 2024 study by GB News revealed that Wikipedia associates "more negative" words with right-wing figures, with researchers finding systematic favouritism towards progressive viewpoints in over 70 per cent of analysed political articles.

In a Fox News interview in 2021, Sanger has called Wikipedia's neutrality "long gone" and likened it to "propaganda".

Also Read: Wikipedia Faces Scrutiny As Centre Issues Notice, Questions Its 'Intermediary' Status Over Bias, Inaccuracies