Pro-Putin Content May Be Infiltrating Wikipedia Due To Malicious Editors, Researchers Find

Wikipedia may be host to significant misinformation around the Russia-Ukraine War due to some malevolent editor accounts, according to new research.

What Happened: Wikipedia has blocked 86 editors who accounted for 681 edits — 8.6% of the total — on the war between the two nations, according to a report from the U.K. think tanks — the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the Center of the Analysis of Social Media. Gizmodo was the first to report the news.

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The researchers didn't conclude that the editors acting in bad faith were necessarily backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's government.

One of the people interviewed by the researchers said pro-Russia paid editors blocked renaming the article on Kyiv to ensure the spelling remains incorrect. He also reportedly said that ill-natured editing also occurs heavily around the topics related to the history of Russia and Ukraine.

Why It's Important: The Russia-Ukraine War is in its eighth month and has escalated in recent days, with Putin's forces striking Kyiv with Iranian drones. Cyber-warfare has been a vital component of the war, as Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL Google researchers found evidence of pro-Russian hackers and online activists joining forces with its military intelligence agency. 

In June, the Russian Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities website was also hacked with the message “Glory To Ukraine.”

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