Croatian Wikipedia
Type of site | Internet encyclopedia project |
|---|---|
| Owner | Wikimedia Foundation |
| Created by | Croatian wiki community |
| URL | hr.wikipedia.org |
The Croatian Wikipedia is the Croatian language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was introduced in February 2003. As of October 2015, it was the 41st largest edition of Wikipedia by number of articles.[1]
Far-right takeover scandal
2009–21
In September 2013, complaints of far-right bias on the Croatian Wikipedia began to capture the spotlight when the Facebook page Razotkrivanje sramotne hr.wikipedije ("Exposing the disgraceful Croatian Wikipedia") revealed the issues. As per Jurica Pavičić, a professor at the University of Split, far-right administrators were found to have blocked dozens of rule-abiding users since 2009 for removing false content related to Croatia's politics and WWII history.[2] Meanwhile, Robert Kurelić, a history professor at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, commented that the Croatian Wikipedia[3]
| “ | [was] used by its administrators to promote [...] false and distorted facts [. ...] exploit high-school and university students [...] change their opinions and attitudes. | ” |
Notably, the war crimes of the pro-Nazi Ustaše-ruled Independent State of Croatia (NDH)[4] were censored by the far-right administrators.[2] Željko Jovanović, the Minister of Science of Croatia back then, also advised against the use of the Croatian Wikipedia.[5] The most serious violation by the far-right administrators was their anti-historical designation of the Jasenovac concentration camp, in which 77,000–99,000 were killed,[6] as a "collection camp". These were condemned by scholars, officials, advocacy groups and media critics as antisemitic Holocaust denial.[7][8]
2021
Following a year-long investigation by the Wikimedia Foundation, several complicit editors and administrators were either banned or demoted, with one of the administrators found to have consolidated his or her power with 80 sockpuppet accounts.[9]
2023
In a 57-page article analyzing disinformation on Wikipedia, Prof. Jan Grabowski and Dr. Shira Klein remarked,[7]
| “ | Wikipedia’s administrators have largely failed to uphold Wikipedia’s policies [. ...] has been unable to deal with the issue of persistent distortion [...] Wikipedia’s articles [...] have become a hub of misinformation and antisemitic canards. | ” |
Current status
As of July 2024, around 135 editors were reportedly making 5+ edits per month.[10]
Related pages
Footnotes
References
- ↑ Wikimedia list of Wikipedias and their statistics.. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1
- Sampson, Tim (October 1, 2013). "How pro-fascist ideologues are rewriting Croatia's history". dailydot.com. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
- Dewey, Caitlin (August 4, 2014). "Men's rights activists think a "hateful" feminist conspiracy is ruining Wikipedia". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- "The Hunt for Wikipedia's Disinformation Moles". Wired. October 17, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
- ↑ "Jovanovićeva poruka učenicima i studentima: Ne koristite hrvatsku Wikipediju!" [Jovanović's message to pupils and students: Don't use Croatian Wikipedia!]. Index.hr (in Croatian). September 13, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
- ↑ "The Holocaust in Croatia". Yad Vashem. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ↑ "Jovanović: Djeco, ne baratajte hrvatskom Wikipedijom jer su sadržaji falsificirani" [Jovanović: "Children, do not use the Croatian Wikipedia because its contents are forgeries"]. Novi list (in Croatian). September 13, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
- ↑
- "Jasenovac". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- Concentration Camps: Jasenovac. doi:10.1080/00085006.2024.2356453. ISBN 978-1-032-35379-1. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - Odak, Stipe; Benčić, Andriana (July 10, 2016). "Jasenovac—A Past That Does Not Pass: The Presence of Jasenovac in Croatian and Serbian Collective Memory of Conflict". East European Politics and Societies: And Cultures. 30 (4). doi:10.1177/0888325416653657. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
- Kuznar, Andriana Bencic; Pavlakovic, Vjeran (May 10, 2023). "Exhibiting Jasenovac: Controversies, manipulations and politics of memory". Heritage, Memory and Conflict Journal. 3 (1). Amsterdam University Press: 65–69. doi:10.3897/ijhmc.3.71583.
- Marko Attila Hoare (June 5, 2024). "Jasenovac concentration camp: an unfinished past". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 66 (1–2): 291–293. doi:10.1080/00085006.2024.2356453. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1
- "Wikipedia's 'longest-running hoax' about fake Warsaw death camp revealed". Jewish News Syndicate. October 4, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
- "Wikipedia page on Warsaw death camp where 200,000 were killed was 15-year fake". The Times of Israel. October 5, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
- Grabowski, Jan; Klein, Shira (February 9, 2023). "Wikipedia's Intentional Distortion of the History of the Holocaust". The Journal of Holocaust Research. 37 (2): 133–190. doi:10.1080/25785648.2023.2168939. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
Four distortions dominate Wikipedia's coverage of Polish–Jewish wartime history: a false equivalence narrative suggesting that Poles and Jews suffered equally in World War II; a false innocence narrative, arguing that Polish antisemitism was marginal, while the Poles' role in saving Jews was monumental; antisemitic tropes insinuating that most Jews supported Communism and conspired with Communists to betray Poles (Żydokomuna or Judeo–Bolshevism), that money-hungry Jews controlled or still control Poland, and that Jews bear responsibility for their own persecution.
[...]
The Polish government's resolve to control the past culminated with [...] the Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance [...] penalizes those who 'slander the good name of the Polish nation' and who 'blame the Polish society for crimes committed by the Nazi Third Reich.' - Klein, Shira (June 14, 2023). "The shocking truth about Wikipedia's Holocaust disinformation". The Forward. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
Why Wikipedia cannot be trusted: It repeatedly allows rogue editors to rewrite Holocaust history and make Jews out to be the bad guys.
- Tabarovsky, Izabella (July 25, 2024). "Wikipedia's Jewish Problem". Tablet. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
[...] Wikipedia's articles are [...] feeding billions of people [...] dangerously skewed narratives [...] "minimize[d] Polish antisemitism, exaggerate[d] the Poles' role in saving Jews," blamed Jews for the Holocaust [... .]
- ↑
- "'Jews Helped the Germans Out of Revenge or Greed': New Research Documents How Wikipedia Distorts the Holocaust". Haaretz. February 14, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
- "Fake Nazi death camp – a Wikipedia site of struggle". South African Jewish Report. August 24, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
- "Wikipedia and Judaism: How Holocaust Denial Became Embedded in the World's Go-To Source of (Mis)Information". World Religion News. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ↑ "Croatian Wikipedia Disinformation Assessment-2021 – Meta". Meta Wikimedia. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
Many articles created and edited by the members of this group present the views that match political and socio-cultural positions advocated by a loosely connected group of Croatian radical right political parties and ultra-conservative populist movements. The group has been using its positions of power to attract new like-minded contributors, silence and ban dissenters, manipulate community elections and subvert Wikipedia's and the broader movement's native conflict resolution mechanisms.
- ↑ "Wikistats - Statistics For Wikimedia Projects". stats.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2024-07-28.