Wikipedia co-founder says platform contains propaganda in key areas

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has criticised the online encyclopedia’s neutrality, alleging it has been used as a tool of propaganda and claiming that U.S. intelligence agencies have edited its content.

In an interview with Berliner Zeitung, Sanger said he has mixed feelings about creating the platform, acknowledging both its educational value and what he described as bias in certain subject areas.

“I am more inclined to regret creating Wikipedia. Only one thing embarrasses me: several taxi drivers who came to the United States from Africa and other regions of the world, when I told them that I am the founder of Wikipedia, told me: ‘I learned a lot from Wikipedia.’ And I know that this is true. In sections that propagandists consider important, Wikipedia is full of propaganda materials. However, apart from that, it presents a vast range of relatively neutral topics covered from a reasonable point of view. Overall, I am glad that Wikipedia exists,” Sanger said.

Sanger, who was removed from the project in 2002, a year after Wikipedia’s launch, has long argued that the platform lacks sufficient neutrality and has called for greater balance in representing differing viewpoints. He has particularly criticized its handling of topics requiring expert input, such as homeopathy.

In 2025, Sanger outlined a reform agenda titled “Nine Theses on Wikipedia,” aimed at addressing what he sees as systemic bias.

The dispute between Sanger and the platform has intensified in recent years. Wikipedia blocked him indefinitely last year, citing rule violations and his efforts to recruit contributors to his initiative, WikiProject Intellectual Diversity. Sanger has rejected those allegations.

Wikipedia maintains that its editorial framework is based on core principles including neutrality, verifiability and a ban on original research.

By Tamilla Hasanova