Wikipedia Middle East editors ban shows risks for creators

BEIRUT, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Rights groups have accused the Saudi Arabian government of "infiltrating" and seeking to control Wikipedia, after the Wikimedia Foundation banned 16 users for engaging in "conflict of interest editing" in the Middle East and North

Africa.

The ban late last year came after an almost year-long investigation that concluded that the users had close connections to "external parties", and that these links were a source of "serious concern for the safety" of users, said the Wikimedia Foundation.

Beirut-based digital rights group SMEX and human rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said that Saudi authorities had recruited Wikipedia's most reputed administrators in the country to control information about the kingdom.

The government jailed administrators who contributed critical posts about political detainees to the free online encyclopedia, the two groups said earlier this month.

A spokesperson from the Wikimedia Foundation said the organisation's investigation found no evidence of Saudi infiltration.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology did not respond to a request for comment.

The Saudi government's actions, if proven, were "novel" but mirrored trends by oppressive governments worldwide to control online spaces, said Pat de Brún, head of artificial intelligence and big data at rights group Amnesty International.

"A huge amount is at stake," de Brún told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Knowledge is power, and the power to rewrite history and do propaganda is valuable for governments who have a lot to hide and have a shameful human rights record."