Elon Musk, following his recent antics on Twitter, appears to have turned his attention towards Wikipedia. The unconventional billionaire has made an audacious offer of one billion dollars to the widely used online encyclopedia, under one unique condition.
The enigmatic CEO of Tesla chose his new social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, now rebranded as X, to make this rather unconventional proposition to Wikipedia. It’s not a typical act of philanthropy, as the money comes with certain stipulations.
On his X platform, Musk announced his intention to gift one billion dollars to Wikipedia if they were willing to change their name to something rather unsuitable, “Di**ipedia.” This bizarre request was accompanied by a screenshot he shared of a Wikipedia appeal for donations, boldly stating, “Wikipedia is not for sale.”
In response to his own post, Musk humorously added, “Please add that to the [cow and poop emojis] on my wiki page,” further noting, “In the interests of accuracy.”
One might naturally assume that accepting a billion dollars would be an easy decision for Wikipedia, as they could always revert their name later. An individual named Ed Krassenstein, a US-based journalist, encouraged Wikipedia to embrace the idea, stating, “Do it!” He suggested they could always switch back after receiving the money.
To this suggestion, Elon Musk responded by setting a condition of his own, stating, “One year minimum. I mean, I’m not a fool, lol.” It seems that if Wikipedia takes Musk up on his offer, they would be stuck with an X-rated name for at least a year.
The question that arises is why Elon Musk is focusing his attention on Wikipedia. According to Complex, Musk’s seemingly generous “donation” comes on the heels of a previous tweet in which he criticized the Wikimedia Foundation for continually seeking donations. Musk expressed skepticism, questioning the necessity of such vast sums, stating, “So, what’s the money for? Inquiring minds want to know…”
Elon Musk and Wikipedia have a history of friction. In May, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales criticized Musk for complying with the Turkish government’s demands to censor posts on X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the country’s presidential election. Wales contrasted this with Wikipedia’s approach, where they fought for freedom of expression, taking the matter to the Supreme Court of Turkey and emerging victorious. It was a stark difference in how they treated the principle of freedom of expression versus a mere slogan, according to Wales.
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