He first made the proposal in October, when he strongly criticized the online encyclopedia, which he said was politically biased.
On December 24 (local time), when a social network user X mentioned billionaire Musk’s offer, he replied briefly but clearly: “Yes. The offer is still valid.”
The move follows Musk’s previous criticism of Wikipedia, when he accused the site of allowing biased articles, such as labeling President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican Party as fascists, while favoring left-wing views.
Mr Musk has said Wikipedia is controlled by far-left activists and called on people to stop donating to the organisation.
Not only did he criticize the content, the billionaire also questioned the operating costs of the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization that runs Wikipedia. He said that maintaining the website does not require such a large amount of money and ironically said that the entire content of Wikipedia can be saved on a phone.
However, the Wikimedia Foundation has explained that a text-only, English-language copy of Wikipedia is about 51 GB, while the entire content, including multimedia formats and other languages, weighs in at 428 TB.
In 2022, the organization reported revenue of $154 million with operating expenses of $145 million.
Musk’s criticism is not unique. A study published in June by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank in the United States, found that Wikipedia often portrays right-wing political figures in a negative light, while favoring left-wing figures.
Not only the US, Russia also expressed dissatisfaction. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova once criticized Wikipedia for publishing biased articles and being attached to Western views, especially on historical and political issues.
Previously, in October, Mr. Musk posted a photo with Wikipedia’s call for donations, declaring that he was willing to give $1 billion if they agreed to change the name to Dickipedia.
Mr. Musk called this a tough and firm proposal, but at the same time turned this proposal into a controversial topic on social media.
