ALBAWABA - Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk took to his official X (formerly Twitter) account to express his interest in buying one of the internet's most well-known encyclopedias, Wikipedia.
Wikipedia's co-founder, Jimmy Wales who is an American-British internet entrepreneur gave a personal appeal saying that Wikipedia is not for sale. The website strives to offer users unbiased and factual information no matter the subject in focus.
Here's why Elon Musk wants to buy Wikipedia
The controversial billionaire said that he would give Wikipedia's parent company a billion dollars if they changed their name to "Dickipedia" poking fun at the company and said:
"Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money?
It certainly isn’t needed to operate Wikipedia. You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone!
So, what’s the money for? Inquiring minds want to know …"
Why did Wikipedia start asking for donations?
(Shutterstock)
Although Wikipedia is a free non-profit encyclopedia for the masses, the website started asking for donations from its users in 2020 in order to keep the website running ad-free without a subscription and a paywall.
Wikipedia expressed their thanks on their official website for the two percent of users that donate money to them occasionally in order to keep on expanding their reach and free knowledge on the internet's largest encyclopedia.
The website doesn't have a specific donation amount, so Wikipedia left the decision to the users.
X (formerly Twitter) users were split on Elon's opinion as usual, with some agreeing with the controversial figure while others opposed him.
Comments against Elon Musk's opinion:
"Same reason you charge money for x. Do you need money, you don't. But you still charge for it and give us peanuts in return. It's the same concept. At least, Wikipedia gives us knowledge."
"Wikipedia is one of the best free resources out there. The real test to see if the quality is there or not is to also read articles about stuff that you know very well. It always passed this test for me, so I am giving them some dough yearly. Keep up the good work Wikipedia."
Comments agreeing with Elon Musk's opinion:
"Wikipedia used to be so good for organic information, now it’s simply a liberal echo chamber. Follow if you think we would make our own decentralized Wikipedia!"
"US Intelligence agencies have been manipulating Wikipedia for over a decade."
Visit Wikipedia here.
