Most of the right-wing administrators who controlled Wikipedia in Serbian, what is it about? Time published research in 2024, On March 30, the Wikimedia Foundation, based in San Francisco, was permanently banned. These are accounts under the name Sadko, CarRadovan and MareBG. The first two accounts, in addition to administrative ones, also had bureaucratic powers that included greater control, while MareBg had administrative powers that included the possibility of blocking, banning the editing of certain Wikipedia articles, deleting articles, and using other tools.
"This means that they will no longer be able to access Wikipedia (and other Wikimedia projects) through their standard, established accounts," Filip Maljković, president of the organization, told Vreme. Wikimedia Serbia.
Previously, Sadko was already permanently blocked from the Serbian-Croatian Wikipedia project, as well as temporarily from the English Wikipedia, for certain areas.
Nationalism, revisionism and right-wing
When Wikimedia applies banning
The official website of the Wikimedia Foundation states that the process of global banning represents isolated cases with the aim of protecting Wikipedia members, as well as preventing types of behavior that hinder dialogue.
"Wikimedia Endowment global bans are considered a last resort and are implemented after receiving a complaint, investigation, extensive consideration, and express approval by members of the Wikimedia Endowment," the site further states.
Maljković adds that the Wikimedia Foundation reacted on the basis of the reports, performed an analysis, and concluded that it was "the best solution for alleged violations of the rules." He also adds that this method of blocking users is rarely used and is intended for more serious violations of the rules.
How the global ban of the mentioned administrators came about - Maljković says he has no information about it.
"There is every chance that the users in question were reported for certain activities, but it remains unclear who reported them when and for which activities," he points out.
For example, Croatian Wikipedia was exposed to historical revisionism related to the Ustasha movement for more than ten years, and the Wikimedia Endowment hired an external expert to prepare a report on it, which was published in 2021. The result was the banning of Croatian Wikipedia users who participated in it.
Recovery of Serbian Wikipedia
Serbian Wikipedia is 24th in the world in terms of number of articles, and the largest in our region. There are currently 11 administrators on the Serbian Wikipedia, two of whom are also bureaucrats - Kizule and Ranko Nikolić. "Vreme" noticed both of them in the mentioned research from 2024. On his Wikipedia profile page, Ranko Nikolić calls himself a Serbian nationalist and is active in editing the article about Ratko Mladić, which he locked for editing by the wider Wikipedia community, and Kizule was blocked on the English Wikipedia due to misrepresentation and paid editing.
Neither of the two received a global ban, but Ranko Nikolić received a warning from the Wikimedia Foundation, "Vreme" learns.
A "Vremena" source, well-acquainted with the case, whose identity has been withheld, states that this is "a huge success for freedom of knowledge and opinion."
"I am glad that the Wikimedia Endowment recognized that their project in Serbian has become something that is not the goal of Wikipedia - to spread radicalism. A lot of work is still needed to repair the damage, but I hope that over time we will be able to rehabilitate the project", he explains.
Although the influence of the mentioned users was great, he believes that this is a wind at the back "to us who love this project and who believe in its mission, free access to knowledge for everyone, without censorship".
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