The Culture Wars Have Come for Wikipedia | The Interview

Wikipedia might seem like a public utility, but in recent years it’s become part of the culture wars. The site has been criticized by Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, congressional Republicans and right-wing influencers, who all claim that Wikipedia is biased. On “The Interview,” Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales talks to host Lulu Garcia-Navarro about how he views this political moment and the challenges Wikipedia faces. Wales has written a book, “The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last,” which will be published this month. Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/magazine/jimmy-wales-interview.html Additional video credits for this episode include: Zach Caldwell (cinematography) and Luke Piotrowski and Jenny Leavitt (additional cameras). “The Interview” features conversations with the world’s most fascinating people. Each week, co-hosts David Marchese and Lulu Garcia-Navarro talk to compelling, influential figures in culture, politics, business, sports and beyond — illuminating who they are, why they do what they do and how they impact the rest of us. Subscribe to “The Interview”: https://www.youtube.com/@theinterviewpodcast Subscribe to New York Times audio: https://bit.ly/3Qz3GZu Download the New York Times app: https://bit.ly/4gZdoip #theinterview Chapters: 00:06 About Wikipedia and Jimmy Wales 01:18 Our society’s “trust deficit” 02:59 How Wikipedia works 06:57 Why Wikipedia sometimes restricts editing access to a page 09:03 Wikipedia editors under threat 11:16 The congressional investigation 14:35 Charlie Kirk 17:04 Elon Musk 22:16 A.I. and Large Language Models 26:20 Was the internet better before? 28:25 Media bias 30:58 Wikipedia’s creation and lessons for today 33:39 The benefits of Wikipedia’s non-profit status 36:22 Tucker Carlson 38:48 Wikipedia’s future 40:15 The last Wikipedia page Wales visited