Wikipedia co-founder permanently banned from editing site
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has been banned from editing the online encyclopedia after he launched a campaign to make the site "more balanced" by using other sources.
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has been banned from editing the online encyclopedia after he launched a campaign to make the site "more balanced" by using other sources.
Many of us are familiar with the warning from our teachers from our student or school days: since Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, we should be careful when using it as a primary source. However, now among these almost 53 million authors there is one exception: the site's co-founder Larry Sanger will no longer be able to edit any articles.
Sanger, 57, co-founded the online encyclopedia in 2001 and even came up with the name Wikipedia. However, he left the project in 2002, later declaring the platform “hopelessly broken.” Now, Sanger has been permanently banned from editing articles after launching a project called WikiProject Intellectual Diversity, Dexerto reports .
The co-founder launched WikiProject Intellectual Diversity to support “Wikipedia’s original, unwavering commitment to intellectual diversity.” Its goal is to help authors with underrepresented perspectives gain a greater voice.
“Well, that’s it — Wikipedia has blocked me ‘indefinitely’ without explanation, by ‘consensus’ of the crowd,” Sanger wrote on the social media site X on June 22. “There was no due process, no prosecutor, no impartial judge, no jury, no interpretation of the law. All my judges were self-appointed and simply hated me.”
Well, that's that—I've been blocked by Wikipedia "indefinitely" for unstated reasons, by the "consensus" of a mob. There was no due process, no prosecutor, no dispassionate judge, no jury, no interpretation of the law. All my judges were self-selected and hated me. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/N57BRWTG4K
— Larry Sanger (@lsanger) June 22, 2026
Sanger said that on June 23, the site briefly unblocked him, but after another rule change, he was again "banned indefinitely."
“Well, now it’s really official. After being blocked this morning and then unblocked (after intervention and protection from Jimmy Wales), as of this evening I have been ‘indefinitely blocked’ again from editing Wikipedia,” he added. “All the allegations are lies and misrepresentations.”
In a comment to the New York Post, Sanger said he was "stunned" by the decision and blamed what happened on a "faceless mob."
Editors accused Sanger of "canvassing" (covert campaigning) through postings outside of Wikipedia that were made "with the aim of influencing the outcome of the discussion in some way."
"I told you all back in 2004 that Wikipedia desperately needs a normal community charter and the rule of law," he added on the social network X.
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