Elon Musk offers Wikipedia $1billion to change name to 'Dickipedia'
Technology
The deal reignites a war of words between Elon Musk and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales
(Web Desk) - Elon Musk has a ten-figure proposal in the form of a locker-room joke for Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
Musk said he’d pay Wales $1 billion to change the online encyclopedia’s name to ‘Dickipedia,’ reigniting the war of words between the two internet moguls.
Back in December, Wales publicly dismissed the idea that he would sell Wikipedia to Musk after a post on X suggesting the plan went viral.
And in May, Wales criticized Musk’s decision to restrict some content related to the Turkish government — information that Wales allowed on Wikipedia.
As Musk made his pricey joke at Wales’ expense over the weekend, he also drew attention to Wales’ plea for financial support for Wikimedia, the non-profit that supports Wikipedia, and speculated that the foundation was mismanaging its money.
“Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money?”
Musk wrote on X, the app formerly known as Twitter. “It certainly isn’t needed to operate Wikipedia.”
Musk has tried to make X a more direct competitor to Wikipedia by emphasizing its Community Notes feature, where users append comments to posts.
On Sunday, one X user used a Community Note to contribute additional context to Musk’s post about Wikimedia — adding a link to the foundation’s latest annual report.
Contrary to Musk’s claims, it shows the organization in relatively strong health: taking in $154 million in revenue last year and accumulating $145 million in expenses.
