More than a year after the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) uncovered a group of at least 30 Wikipedia editors seemingly coordinating to add anti-Israel bias, misleading information and antisemitic narratives, the group says the online encyclopedia has yet to edit or remove much of the concerning content.
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encyclopedia → uncover → content
"We had expected that these editors would be removed.
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editors → expect → ?
We had expected that their edits would have been reversed.
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edits → expect → ?
We expected that new policies would have implemented.
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policies → expect → ?
Almost nothing has changed," ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt told Fox News Digital.
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Greenblatt → change → Digital
In the 2025 report, "Editing for Hate," the ADL raised several issues, including a "coordinated campaign" of manipulation of Wikipedia content related to Israel, Palestine and similar topics.
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ADL → raise → Israel
Additionally, the organization said it found pro-Hamas perspectives informing Arabic-language content on those same topics.
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it → say → topics
The group of 30 editors, according to the ADL, were more active than comparable groups "by a factor of at least two."
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group → accord → two
Wikipedia's community banned some of the editors from the topic area or from the site entirely following the 2025 report.
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community → ban → report
However, the ADL claims the issues that it flagged were not resolved with the restrictions on those named in its previous report.
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it → claim → report
In its 2026 report, "Damage Done: Wikipedia Leaves Biased Edits Unchecked Despite Editor Bans," the ADL stated that "no banned editor's body of work has been systemically reviewed to determine which edits should be corrected."
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edits → do → work
The organization found that across seven articles reviewed for its 2026 report, six of which are "flagship pages," 91% of a banned editor's edits were still live.
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% → find → edits
"A topic ban is great in theory, but in practice, if you're not doing it, if you aren't really taking action, there's really no ban at all," Greenblatt told Fox News Digital.
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Greenblatt → do → action
"It's as if you had an individual who was spraying graffiti on the walls of public buildings.
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who → have → buildings
You might arrest that individual, but you don't erase or clean up the graffiti.
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you → arrest → graffiti
You still leave it on the public institutions.
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You → leave → institutions
Like, no one would do that in the real world.
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one → do → world
I don't know why that is acceptable as a practice on Wikipedia."
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that → know → Wikipedia
An account known as Iskandar323, which was part of the group of 30 editors documented in the 2025 report, serves as a case study of what has happened in the time since then.
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what → know → time
The ADL found that the account had a years-long editing history that showed a notable uptick following Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.
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that → find → Israel
The account, according to the ADL, made 485 edits across six articles, 225 of which came after the Hamas massacre, including 85 that were made in Oct. 2023.
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that → accord → Oct.
The ADL noted that the six pages that were edited "are among the highest-trafficked English-language Wikipedia entries on the topic."
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that → note → topic
Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) discussed Iskandar323's conduct in public proceedings.
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Committee → discuss → proceedings
ArbCom found that Iskandar323 "engaged in disruptive behavior in the PIA topic area, including consistently non-neutral editing."
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Iskandar323 → find → editing
The account was given a site ban after continuing to edit topics related to Israel and Palestine despite already being under a topic ban, according to the ADL.
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account → give → ADL
Just days after the Oct. 7 attacks, Iskandar323 removed much of the substance of Wikipedia's "Hamas" article, including materials detailing the group's antisemitism, anti-Zionism, use of human shields and child combatants, human rights abuses and more to "a far less-read companion article" titled "Criticism of Hamas."
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Iskandar323 → remove → Hamas
The ADL said that Iskandar323 left only a "brief generalized reference behind."
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Iskandar323 → say → reference
The organization noted that while nothing had been deleted, the moving of information made it so readers viewing the "Hamas" page would no longer see the material unless they went to a subsequent page.
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they → note → page
On Nov. 21, 2023, the same account removed around 17,000 characters of text and citations from Wikipedia's "Gaza war" page, according to the ADL.
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account → remove → ADL
The account deleted a section of the page detailing forensic evidence of violence committed during the Oct. 7 attacks, including decapitation, torture and sexual violence.
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account → delete → decapitation
Two days later, Iskandar323 removed around 7,400 characters from what remained on the page, including witness accounts from Israeli soldiers and ZAKA, a first-responder organization.
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what → remove → soldiers
"These are not innocuous edits," Greenblatt said.
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Greenblatt → say → ?
"These are intentional changes designed to drive a narrative, a narrative that number one, demonizes the Jewish state.
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that → design → state
That, number two, removes all context from terror incidents in general, and specifically, specifically, that sanitizes and launders what happened on October the 7th, the worst, most brutal attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
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what → remove → Holocaust
The ADL said that the consequences of the biased edits go beyond Wikipedia itself, calling the platform "the foundational infrastructure for the broader online ecosystem."
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consequences → say → ecosystem
Wikipedia is often favored by search engines, and can be "at or near the top of search results for most substantive queries," according to the ADL.
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Wikipedia → favor → ADL
Greenblatt said that "Wikipedia has lost trust" at a crucial time as many Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and AI features embedded into other products rely on Wikipedia.
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Models → say → Wikipedia
Pressure from congressional scrutiny, federal inquiries and Wikipedia's own enforcement following the 2025 report appeared to lead to a significant decrease in coordinated activity among the 30-editor group, according to the ADL.
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Pressure → follow → ADL
However, the organization acknowledges that while "visible signs of coordination" decreased, it does not necessarily mean that it has stopped.
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it → acknowledge → coordination
The 2026 report states that the problematic edits are still happening, but through "quieter, subtler techniques."
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edits → state → techniques
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
