I remember that Google offered to support Wikipedia (financially and otherwise) several times over and was denied. It’s possible that the offer came with string

I remember that Google offered to support Wikipedia (financially and otherwise) several times over and was denied. It’s possible that the offer came with strings attached, but I can’t imagine Google being that clumsy. I have little doubt that if the foundation needs more money, YouTube will be more than happy to help out. But, so far, Wikipedia has refused because they want to remain as impartial as possible and can’t rely on too large swaths of funding from too few sources. YouTube has tried to implement moderation and failed to address conspiration-wielders. No matter what they do, someone will decry it as “a platform controlled by the rich” [0]. Wikimedia has been addressing similar issues for almost two decades and has proven more effective than YouTube. Or anyone, really: there is a reason they are scraped for truth. Snopes itself shouldn’t be trusted as a direct source anymore than Wikipedia. The difference is that Wikipedia allows a debate. Katherine Maher wants use to “read @Wikipedia with a critical eye” [1] and who is going to do that better than Flat-Earthers? That change is going to be disruptive but will help Wikipedia develop its own critical-thinking. Is it a good move for Wikipedia? No, it’s exposing itself to critics, which is painful, but it is what the foundation explicitly say they need. Should YouTube have made a deal, given Wikipedia money to help with that problem? Probably not, it would hurt more than it helps. Is YouTube exposing Wikipedia’s brand more and given then an opportunity to communicate on their mission? They have. I’m more likely to give to them if they tell me that they need money to face DDOS from the Flat Earth society than if they keep offering a very easy to overlook service. I’m not saying Google is innocent: they should attribute their facts to the proper author list in their snippets, for instance, but I seriously doubt that they would hesitate to respond to any request for support. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16590852 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16590852 [1]: https://twitter.com/krmaher/status/973795473113968641 https://twitter.com/krmaher/status/973795473113968641