(The Hill) — Billionaire Elon Musk supplied Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia, $1 billion below the situation that it will change its title to “Dickipedia.”
The proprietor of X, the social media platform previously often called Twitter, wrote his provide in a put up on his new web site. He quoted an earlier put up with a screenshot of a private enchantment from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales stating that the web site is “not on the market.”
“I’ll give them a billion {dollars} if they modify their title to Dickipedia,” Musk wrote.
“Please add that to the [cow and poop emojis] on my wiki web page,” he continued below the put up. “Within the pursuits of accuracy.”
When one consumer, Journalist Ed Krassenstein, advised the web encyclopedia to take the offer, saying that it “can at all times change it again after you gather,” Musk replied that the web site should preserve the title for “one 12 months minimal.”
“One 12 months minimal. I imply, I’m a not idiot lol,” he mentioned.
Musk’s posts come after his earlier posts criticizing the Wikimedia Basis, the non-profit that hosts Wikipedia, for asking for cash.
“Have you ever ever puzzled why the Wikimedia Basis desires a lot cash? It actually isn’t wanted to function Wikipedia,” he wrote on X. “You possibly can actually match a replica of the whole textual content in your telephone! So, what’s the cash for? Inquiring minds wish to know …”
The app’s “Group Notes,” which permits customers to enroll to change into contributors and create notes on posts for context, left an explanation below his put up initially stating that Wikipedia handles “over 25B web page views per 30 days and over 44M web page edits a month, requiring substantial working prices.”
It additionally famous that the group employs third-party monetary auditors whose reviews are made obtainable to the general public.
The word since famous the group’s expense, $146 million, and left a bullet checklist specifying the place the cash goes by p.c.
Wales has been an outspoken critic of Musk. In Could, Wales condemned Musk’s resolution to censor critics forward of the Turkish presidential election.
“What Wikipedia did: we stood sturdy for our rules and fought to the Supreme Court docket of Turkey and received,” Wales wrote in response to a post from Musk defending his resolution. “That is what it means to deal with freedom of expression as a precept relatively than a slogan.”
Musk has come below withering criticism in some quarters for misinformation on X since he bought the platform and instituted numerous adjustments.
