Shortly after President Donald Trump announced key cabinet nominees, Wikipedia editors changed their pages in an apparent attempt to highlight damaging information. The editors appear to have carefully timed these cunning changes to be made during the lead-up to the confirmation process when the Trump nominees were under the microscope.
The infamously biased online encyclopedia substantially altered its entries for now-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, now-FBI Director Kash Patel and now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The Wikipedia page for Russell Vought, Trump’s nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget, was also impacted. MRC Free Speech America compared the last archived versions of each nominee’s Wikipedia entry before Trump announced their nominations versus archived pages after their nominations.
The changes made by Wikipedia were significant, including:
- Manufacturing entirely new negative sections on the nominees’ pages.
- Overhauling nominees’ “Personal life” sections.
- Changing the characterization of incidents described.
- Substantially increasing existing coverage of controversial material/events.
Wikipedia, one of the most visited websites in the world, appears on the first page of 99 percent of Google searches and is the number one result for a majority of all searches, according to Search Engine Watch. This is likely a direct result of Google frequently using Wikipedia as a source for its “knowledge panels,” which often appear at the top of many basic online searches. This was the case in Google searches for each of the nominees that MRC researchers included in this study.
The search giant has also given no less than a combined $7.5 million to the encyclopedia’s parent company, Wikimedia Foundation, and its fund, Wikimedia Endowment.
It appears that Google and Wikipedia have made a dual effort to influence how Americans view the Trump administration. Past MRC Free Speech America studies have shown how Google has elevated negative information about Trump administration officials. Now it is clear that Wikipedia has been doing much the same.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
While Wikipedia made negative revisions for numerous Trump nominees, the online encyclopedia treated Hegseth worse than any other nominee, dramatically overhauling his page.
These edits included ripping three medals awarded to Hegseth out of his “infobox” at the top of his page. The remaining medals were stripped of the complementary images next to them. This had the effect of substantially decreasing the size of a prominent space devoted to Hegseth’s valor.
After Hegseth’s nomination, Wikipedia editors also peppered his page with negative details and salacious evidence-free allegations and added entire sections with headers like “Campaign to Pardon War Criminals” and “Sexual Assault Allegation.” Wikipedia additionally crammed “alleged sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and public drunkenness” into the introduction section of Hegseth’s page.
The online encyclopedia even brought up irrelevant information about Hegseth's college days, in an apparent attempt to paint him as guilty by association with another student. "As publisher [of the student newspaper, The Princeton Tory magzine], he published another student's commentary that sex with an unconscious woman was not rape since there was no duress.”
Wikipedia also attacked Hegseth for allegations made about his time at Concerned Veterans for America, highlighting accusations, in many cases from unnamed sources, ranging from sexual harassment to drunkenness at work events and mismanagement.
In a separate case, Wikipedia didn’t simply add negative details; it stripped away positive details and turned a section on its head. Hegseth’s Wikipedia page previously noted that a drummer whom Hegseth accidentally hit with an axe suffered “minor injuries” and reportedly rejoined the Flag Day television segment as if nothing had happened. After Hegseth was nominated, Wikipedia editors removed both of these statements, replacing them with information about a lawsuit claiming that Hegseth had severely injured the man.
Furthermore, a “Political positions” section relentlessly stoked fears about Hegseth’s personal beliefs, including an out-of-context quote about Hegseth rejecting democracy. Wikipedia wrote:
“In a May 2024 interview where he talked about education, Hegseth said ‘Democracy, democracy, defend the democracy. Do you know what our founders did not want us to be? A democracy.’ Hegseth has explicitly rejected democracy in his book, equating it to a leftist demand.”
At no point does the Wikipedia entry explain that America is not a direct democracy but rather a constitutional republic, leaving readers to wonder if Hegseth is an open authoritarian.
Wikipedia editors went out of their way to trash Hegseth in the “Personal life” section as well. After his nomination, his Wikipedia page added an explanation for Hegseth’s first divorce noting that he and his ex-wife “divorced in 2009 after he admitted to five affairs.”
Additionally, editors inserted a quote from an email from Hegseth’s mother in which she accused him of being "an abuser of women." For maximum effect, editors removed a huge section of her email with ellipses and stuck two separate parts together in order to include her use of “abuser” and “abusive” within the same quote.
In addition to the above alterations, other changes Wikipedia editors made also included:
- Eight awards won by Hegseth for his service to the country get reduced to five, while complementary images of the awards are removed, significantly decreasing the space devoted to his accolades.
- Adds "Contents" line: "Campaign to pardon war criminals;"
- Adds "Contents" line: "Sexual assault allegation;"
- Trumps up the introduction with additional negative information: "Alleged sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and public drunkenness."
- "Early life and education" section goes after Hegseth for an article someone else wrote when he was a publisher for a student paper;
- Adds allegations of mismanagement, intoxication at work and sexual harassment from Hegseth’s time at Concerned Veterans for America;
- Axe injury incident discussion removes mention of "minor injuries" and that the injured person recovered quickly. Further, it adds material from a lawsuit claiming that Hegseth had severely injured the man;
- New nomination section is filled with allegations against Hegseth, such as sexual assault, spousal abuse and alcoholism;
- Adds a massive “political positions” section devoted to attacking Hegseth;
- Adds a detailed “Sexual assault allegation” section;
- “Personal life” section adds additional drama to Hegseth’s divorce: "they divorced in 2009 after he admitted to five affairs;"
- “Personal life” section is edited to include part of an email from Hegseth’s mother, including the words "abuser" and "abusive," even though this requires removing a great deal of intervening text.
FBI Director Kash Patel
Wikipedia editors similarly made Patel’s Wikipedia page barely recognizable after Trump nominated him to head the FBI.
Wikipedia editors stuffed negative and absurd details into multiple sections of Patel’s page after Trump announced his nomination. For example, they added a paragraph noting that a former government official accused Patel of lying about a hostage rescue operation in Nigeria. Additionally, they inserted material about former Vice President Mike Pence and former Attorney General Bill Barr opposing a promotion for Patel (on separate occasions).
The editors similarly changed a section about Patel’s work attempting to ensure the release of hostages held by the Syrian government, adding a snarky line that “the negotiations were unsuccessful.”
When Wikipedia editors added a section on his nomination, they buffeted him with unfair personal attacks from Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and others. Wikipedia included Durbin’s asinine perjury accusation against Patel and a former U.S. attorney’s MSNBC-style warning that Patel was a “real danger to democracy.” Editors also shoved in a seven-paragraph section with a "Promotion of conspiracy theories” header.
- Adds to Syrian hostage rescue discussion “the negotiations were unsuccessful;”
- Adds section accusing Patel of dishonesty concerning Nigerian government approval of a hostage rescue;
- Adds negative material about former Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General William Barr's attitude toward Patel after the 2020 election;
- Post-government activities section is beefed up with attacks on who Patel associates with and what he promotes, including an attack by The New York Times accusing Patel of exaggerating his role in the investigation of the 2012 Benghazi terror attack;
- Adds “Nomination as director of the FBI” section filled with attacks such as an accusation of perjury; and adds a "Promotion of conspiracy theories" section, which included more paragraphs than most other sections.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
In Gabbard’s case, Wikipedia editors responded to her nomination by discussing at length actions and statements for which Gabbard has been criticized.
For example, a section about Gabbard “missing votes,” more than tripled in size after Wikipedia editors went to work on her page. Prior to the changes, it simply stated that “former Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie, criticized her for missing votes while campaigning for president—especially the vote on Syria; however, her absences were similar to other members of Congress running for president,” [emphasis added].
Editors, however, reframed this section to paint Gabbard in a harsher light:
“Between January and July, she had missed nearly a quarter of votes. However, her absences became more frequent in late 2019. Gabbard was absent for 85% of votes held between the start of October through late-December. One of the votes she managed to cast during this period was her "present" votes on both articles of impeachment in the first impeachment of Donald Trump. Gabbard did not resign, though her frequent absences continued until she ended her campaign. Between the start of January 2020 and end of March, Gabbard missed 65% of votes.”
Similarly, Wikipedia editors expanded content about her heavily criticized meeting with former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and her views on Ukraine. As with several other nominees, editors beefed up Gabbard’s “Personal life” section with negative content, highlighting her connection to the Science of Identity Foundation before writing that Trump’s transition team denied this connection.
- Whereas the original description of Gabbard “missing votes” during her time in Congress was one sentence ending in a mitigating clause, editors add five additional sentences about the topic, some much harsher than the original. Her page further emphasizes “missing votes” by analyzing the votes missed during specific periods;
- Highlights foreign policy positions Gabbard has taken fire for by increasing mentions (including headers and footnotes) of associated countries and leaders: Syria (from 22 to 65), Assad (from 10 to 46), Russia (from 19 to 106) and Ukraine (from 7 to 64) Editors also increase discussion of Gabbard’s much-criticized Assad visit, giving the visit its own section and header. Additionally, Wikipedia editors devote 10 consecutive paragraphs to Gabbard’s Syria views.
- Greatly expands the discussion of Gabbard’s views on Ukraine to 17 paragraphs, while increasing mentions of Russia to 106 and mentions of Ukraine to 64 (including headers and footnotes).
- Adds material about her association with the Science of Identity Foundation to the "Personal life" section. The foundation is an organization Wikipedia labels as anti-Islam and anti-gay, while noting that the Trump transition team denies the connection.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought
Wikipedia editors also attacked Vought in his newly added “Personal life” section, which appeared shortly after his nomination. The section specifically describes Vought as a “vocal supporter of Christian marriage and family involvement in church.” This statement was immediately followed by a sentence noting that Vought is now divorced from the mother of his children. Wikipedia editors reinforced this by adding a “spouse” line to the “Personal details” section at the top of Vought’s page, writing “divorced 2023” next to Mary Vought’s name.
Wikipedia editors also added a pair of additional sources highlighting Vought’s connection to Project 2025, a tactic frequently used by leftist activists apparently to drive a wedge between Trump and his nominees. Notably, Vought’s page was already filled with negative content before his nomination, including a prominently displayed and out-of-left-field “Trump Ukraine Scandal” section.
- Increases mentions of Project 2025 (including links and headers) from nine to 11.
- Adds a "Personal life" section that mentions he is divorced right after saying he was an advocate for marriage and family.
Other Nominees
Wikipedia editors also made subtler changes to nominees who either attracted less media attention, or had received a lion’s share of the left’s ire even prior to being nominated by Trump, like RFK, Jr.
For example, Wikipedia editors inserted a Project 2025 reference into now-FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s introduction—something that was not present before his nomination—again, in an apparent effort to create friction between Trump and his pick. Now-Attorney General Pam Bondi was also smeared with accusations of making “false claims of election fraud” in her introduction section. Pre-nomination, her page made no mention of these “false claims.”
Most of the Wikipedia editors’ vicious changes to the RFK Jr. page significantly predate his nomination. In fact, his page got a significant facelift after March 2023, when he challenged then-President Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary. Since then, Wikipedia editors have added allegations of sexual assault and nonconsensual sharing of private images to his “Personal life” section, as well as several stories about his “treatment of dead animals.”
Kennedy’s “Career” section similarly underwent substantial renovations. Post-campaign announcement pages now include information about a failed bar exam and an accusation that Kennedy made a questionable hire on behalf of the Hudson River Fisherman's Association. In an apparent attempt to humiliate Kennedy, the Wikipedia editors even made changes noting how he pushed for a nuclear power plant to close and incorrectly predicted lower emissions.
Outrageously, the Wikipedia editors changed the beginning of his “Political views” section, writing at the very beginning, "Kennedy's political rhetoric often uses conspiracy theories."
These moves once again expose Wikimedia Foundation CEO and former Planned Parenthood COO Maryana Iskander as presiding over a deeply biased, misinformation website.
Wikipedia has veered so far left that even its own co-founder, Larry Sanger, has criticized it for abandoning neutrality. He recently doubled down on the accusation of Wikipedia’s bias: “Yes it’s biased, I’ve said so for a long time.”
In the past, MRC has reported on how Wikipedia outright banned Breitbart and Newsmax as sources on the website while aggressively restricting Fox News. But a new study by MRC Free Speech America shows that those are not the only right-leaning media sites that have been left out in the cold by Wikipedia. According to the MRC’s research, Wikipedia effectively blacklists all right-leaning media sources while credentialing 84 percent of left-leaning media as “generally reliable.” Wikipedia has even gone so far as to attack The Babylon Bee, a satire website and member of the MRC-led Free Speech Alliance, claiming it is "no different from any other right wing disinfo site.”
Wikipedia doesn’t just target the right. It also coddles its political allies. Wikipedia editors allowed 116 edits to the online encyclopedia’s “recession” page, apparently to avoid embarrassing the Biden-Harris administration with clear evidence of their Bidenomics disaster. The cover-up even included a label warning readers that an “outdated” version of the article was going viral. Bad Bidenomics coverage wasn’t the only scandalous move from Wikipedia. Egregiously, the website’s editors have allowed consultants connected to Hunter Biden to alter the page of the former president’s son.
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