Sen. Cruz Responds to Jewish Onliner's Wikipedia Investigation on Foreign State-Run Media

In an exclusive statement, Sen. Cruz addressed Wikipedia's systematic bias following JO's investigation revealing the citation disparity between state-run outlets and U.S. conservative media

Senator Ted Cruz has provided an exclusive statement to Jewish Onliner following our investigation that revealed foreign state-controlled media outlets—some with documented terror ties—receive over 30,000 citations on Wikipedia’s English platform, while American conservative outlets are systematically marginalized.

In his statement, provided through Press Secretary Chavonne Ludick and Senate Commerce Committee colleagues Phoebe Keller and Josie Sawyer, the Senator emphasized the systematic nature of Wikipedia’s bias problem:

“Bias is evident in Wikipedia’s reliable sources/perennial sources list, which aggregates the editing community’s ‘consensus’ about the reliability of information sources like news organizations, nonprofits, and other websites. Compounding the concern, the Wikimedia Foundation financially supports left-wing organizations that contribute to Wikipedia content.”

The Senator’s statement comes as he has intensified congressional scrutiny of the Wikimedia Foundation. In an October 3rd letter to Wikimedia Foundation CEO Maryana Iskander, Cruz—serving as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation—demanded detailed information about ideological bias on the platform, citing his committee’s jurisdiction over communications and online information platforms.

Cruz’s concern extends beyond political bias to matters of antisemitism and terrorist propaganda:

“There is detailed evidence of a coordinated editing campaign to push antisemitic content on the platform. Through more than 1.5 million edits over the past decade, a coordinated group of editors pushed antisemitic narratives on Wikipedia while whitewashing the activities of groups like Hamas. These were not organic changes that occur on Wikipedia as editors update pages to reflect evolving understandings of complex issues, but rather a long-running, coordinated scheme that involved serious infractions to Wikipedia’s anti-bias policies.”

The Citation Disparity

Jewish Onliner’s investigation found that Qatar-funded Al Jazeera—which has employed individuals affiliated with Hamas and has been banned by multiple Arab nations and Israel—receives 20,217 citations on Wikipedia and maintains a “Generally Reliable” ranking. By contrast, the Washington Free Beacon, deemed “Generally Reliable” by Wikipedia’s own standards, receives just 32 citations. The Daily Wire receives only 24 citations despite being one of the largest conservative media outlets in America.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, which a Jewish Onliner investigation revealed employs personnel with ties to designated terrorist organizations, has accumulated 5,018 citations. Meanwhile, Breitbart receives just 11 citations and is both “Deprecated” and “Blacklisted” on the platform.

Iranian state outlets Tehran Times (2,326 citations), Mehr News (939 citations), and Islamic Republic News Agency (404 citations) collectively receive thousands of citations despite their role in what Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation describes as Iran’s propaganda apparatus.

Congressional Oversight

In his October 3rd letter to Wikimedia Foundation CEO Maryana Iskander, Cruz emphasized Wikipedia’s outsized influence in shaping public discourse. “Its articles appear in more than 80 percent of desktop search results for common queries,” Cruz wrote, noting that “every major large language model has been trained on the platform. Wikipedia shapes what Americans read today and what technology will produce tomorrow.”

The letter included nine detailed requests for information, including documentation of how the Wikimedia Foundation addresses political bias, details on the controversial reliable sources list, and all communications between Wikimedia Foundation officials and federal government agents since January 2020. Cruz gave the Foundation until October 17, 2025, to respond—a deadline that has now passed.

Cruz also highlighted that the Wikimedia Foundation “donated hundreds of thousands of dollars during the 2022–2023 fiscal year to activist groups seeking to bring the online encyclopedia more in line with traditionally left-of-center points of view,” with grant recipients including organizations that aim to “decolonize the internet” and “dismantle supremacist systems.”

The investigation’s findings take on heightened significance given Wikipedia’s role in training artificial intelligence systems. As Cruz noted, biased citation patterns become embedded in AI systems that will shape future public discourse, making this “not just an editorial concern but a fundamental threat to information integrity in democratic societies.”