Ed Martin says he’s not so sure Wikipedia should be treated as a nonprofit because he believes the site spreads propaganda.

Wikipedia’s articles may contain propaganda, according to Ed Martin, the assistant attorney general for the District of Columbia. Last week, The Free Press obtained Martin’s letter to the Wikimedia Foundation, which oversees Wikipedia. The letter contains a series of allegations against Wikipedia, with Martin claiming that the Wikimedia Foundation is allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public. The letter effectively serves as a warning to the Wikimedia Foundation that Martin is targeting the Wikimedia Foundation’s Section 501(c)(3) status, threatening to attempt to revoke the Wikimedia Foundation’s tax-exempt nonprofit status.

Martin’s letter is just the latest in a series of similar attacks on individuals, organizations, and publications that express opinions or positions contrary to those of Martin and the Trump administration. He has recently written similar letters threatening Democratic lawmakers, a scientific journal for thoracic surgeons, and essentially anyone who criticizes DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency).

It is unusual for an attorney general to launch an investigation into an organization’s tax-exempt status because it falls under the jurisdiction of the IRS, which itself has threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status for refusing to comply with federal requirements regarding its curriculum and treatment of pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Organizations must meet strict criteria to qualify for Section 501(c)(3) status, including a requirement that the organization not attempt to influence legislation or participate in campaign activity for or against political candidates as a substantial part of its activities. IRS regulations also limit the political and lobbying activities in which a Section 501(c)(3) organization may engage.

The Wikimedia Foundation describes itself as a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development, and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to making the full content of these wiki-based projects available to the public free of charge. The content of the sites is monitored and maintained by approximately 260,000 volunteers from around the world who edit content according to Wikipedia’s core content guidelines. Although Wikipedia editors do not always catch inaccurate information, several studies have shown that Wikipedia pages are more accurate than is often believed.

The threat to Wikipedia over the alleged actions of some editors also echoes the debate over whether social media companies are legally responsible for what people post on their platforms. In any case, what Martin is trying to achieve is divisive.

Source: PCGamer, The Free Press, Washington Post, NBC News, CNN, IRS, Wikimedia Foundation, SMH