Wikipedia Bias Against Israel Persists, New ADL Study Finds

Although coordinated editing activity decreased by about 95% following previous investigations, the ADL found that the work of banned editors was not systematically reviewed or corrected. For example, 91% of edits made by one fully banned user are still present in active text on prominent articles such as "Hamas", "Gaza War", "Zionism", and "October 7th Attacks". The ADL identified 19 active accounts, including original members who avoided sanctions and 11 new contributors, that continue to influence articles related to Israel and the Palestinians.

According to the ADL, biased editing now persists through more subtle methods, such as reverting other editors' changes, softening factual claims, and slowly reconstructing articles to avoid detection. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated that Wikipedia's content is still affected by a systematic disinformation campaign. The ADL warned that these uncorrected distortions continue to feed into artificial intelligence systems, large language models, and search engine results, spreading misinformation to millions of people globally. The organization is urging Wikipedia to audit the affected articles and calling on AI developers to disclose when they use Wikipedia as a source.