Elon Musk offers Wikipedia $1 billion in exchange for changing its name to “Dickipedia”

Wikipedia is a well-known encyclopedia website that is free to use by anyone. Elon Musk and Wikipedia are at odds. In exchange for the Encyclopaedia website changing its name to “Dickipedia” for at least a year, the millionaire promised to give it $1 billion.

According to Elon Musk, Wikipedia and its parent company are biased toward well-known editors. “Have you ever questioned why the Wikimedia Foundation demands so much money?” tweeted the owner of X. It’s definitely not required for Wikipedia to function. A copy of the complete text can fit on your phone, literally! In 2022, around $2.7 million was spent by the Wikimedia Foundation for website hosting. In the meantime, X recorded around 600 million visitors last month.

Elon Musk asks Wikipedia to change its name to Dickipedia

Several users use Wikipedia to access the information. However, Musk believes that X is a more reliable source of information when it comes to news and opinions. According to Musk, the Community Notes of X comprise users with different historical backgrounds and different points of view. These users review the notes and approve them for public viewing. He added that, even though he is one of the shareholders of the company, he can’t modify the outcome of a Note.

Besides this, the reports shared by NewsGuard state that the verified accounts on the platform are the source of disinformation on X regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict. It might have led the billionaire to troll Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales, one of the co-founders of Wikipedia, is an advisor to NewsGuard.

The Wikimedia Foundation states that Wikipedia is the only non-profit website on the list of the top 10 most-visited global websites. The company’s statement reflects that a major portion of donations is spent to bring improvements to the website. The company shared these details in a statement to PCMag. In response to Musk’s statement, the company responded by saying that we don’t have a subscription fee and that we sell user’s data.

According to the latest information, last year, the Wikimedia Foundation generated $154 million in revenue. Around $146 was spent on expenses. Of the total expenses, product development and engineering improvements make up 43% of the expenses. An additional 32% is used to fund projects, grants, and equipment.