Orangemoody editing of Wikipedia
On August 31, 2015, 381 sockpuppet accounts on the English Wikipedia were discovered operating a secret paid editing ring. It had its participants extort money from mid-sized businesses who had articles about themselves rejected. Nicknamed "Orangemoody" after the first account uncovered, it was Wikipedia's biggest COI scandal at the time,[1] exceeding the scope of the Wiki-PR editing of Wikipedia incident in which approximately 250 sockpuppets were found and blocked in 2013.
The story was reported by hundreds of English and non-English language news sources, including Komsomolskaya Pravda, Le Monde and Die Zeit.[2][3][4] The editing was described by various media as "black hat" editors (Tech Crunch),[5] "dishonest editing" (PC World),[6] "extortion" (Wired),[7] a "blackmail scam" (The Independent),[8] and "extensive cybercrime syndicate" (ThinkProgress).[9]
History
In 2015, the English Wikipedia blocked 381 accounts, many of them suspected of being sockpuppets of the same people, after a two-month investigation launched by Wikipedia editors.[10] More than 200 Wikipedia articles created from the accounts were deleted.[11]
Wikipedia's resulting investigation, named "Orangemoody" after the first account uncovered, found that sockpuppets had searched the site for deleted or rejected articles about businesses.[12] Many of the articles had been deleted for excessively promotional content. The editors, some posing as Wikipedia administrators, would then extort[13] payment from the businesses to publish and protect the articles. More than 200 articles were deleted. Besides businesses, individual people were targeted, including Cuban musician Dayramir Gonzalez.[13][14] The scammers themselves may have been involved in the deletion of some articles.[8] Wikimedia Foundation members Ed Erhart and Juliet Barbara declared that "undisclosed paid advocacy editing may represent a serious conflict of interest and could compromise the quality of content on Wikipedia".[13]
References
Citations
- ↑ "Wikipedia’s biggest scandal: Industrial-scale blackmail", The Register, September 3, 2015
- ↑ Саша ПЯТНИЦКАЯ (Sasha Pyatnitskaya) (September 1, 2015), "Англоязычная Wikipedia заблокировала более 380 редакторов за "корыстные" правки" [The English Wikipedia has blocked more than 380 editors for "selfish" edits], Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian)
- ↑ "381 comptes de Wikipédia bannis pour extorsion", Le Monde (in French) (Paris), 2015-09-02, retrieved 2015-09-06
- ↑ "Wikipedia: Schutzgelderpressung in der Online-Enzyklopädie" [Wikipedia: protection racket in the online encyclopedia], Zeit Online (in de accessdate=2015-09-06) (Die Zeit), 2015-09-01
- ↑ Perez, Sarah (2015-09-01), "Wikipedia Bans Hundreds Of "Black Hat" Paid Editors Who Created Promotional Pages On Its Site", TechCrunch, retrieved 2015-09-06
- ↑ Ribeiro, John (2015-09-01), "Wikipedia bans 381 user accounts for dishonest editing", PC World, retrieved 2015-09-06
- ↑ Technology (2015-09-01), "381 Wikipedia "sockpuppet" accounts banned for paid promotion", Wired (UK), retrieved 2015-09-06
- 1 2 Merrill, Jamie (2015-09-02), "Wikipedia 'rogue editors' have targeted hundreds of people in a blackmail scam", The Independent, archived from the original on 2015-09-14 – via WebCite
- ↑ Williams, Lauren C. (2015-09-04), "Wikipedia Editors Uncover Extortion Scam And Extensive Cybercrime Syndicate", ThinkProgress, retrieved 2015-09-06
- ↑ Moyer, Justin Wm (2015-09-02). "Wikipedia sting snares hundreds of accounts used for paid editing". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
- ↑ Dredge, Stuart. "Wikipedia founder backs site's systems after extortion scam". the Guardian. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
- ↑ King, Robin Levinson (2015-09-02). "Wikipedia bans users for not disclosing they got paid to edit articles". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
- 1 2 3 Weaver, Matthew. "Wikipedia blocks editor accounts linked to extortion scam". the Guardian. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
- ↑ Coolman, Robert (2015-09-05). "I Was Shaken Down by Wikipedia’s Blackmail Bandits". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
Additional references
- Kravets, David (2015-09-01). "Wikipedia blocks hundreds of linked accounts for suspect editing". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
- Chiel, Ethan (2015-09-01). "Wikipedia editors just banned 381 accounts over a huge fraud and extortion scandal". Fusion TV. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
- Pearson, Jordan (2015-09-01). "Hundreds of Wikipedia Accounts Got Banned for Secretly Promoting Brands". Vice. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
- "Victime de fraude et d’extorsion, Wikipédia ferme 381 comptes de faux contributeurs". Le Temps (in French). Switzerland. 2015-09-01. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
External links
- Erhart, Ed; Barbara, Juliet (2015-08-31). "Hundreds of "black hat" English Wikipedia accounts blocked following investigation". Wikimedia blog. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
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