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LISBON – Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has criticized X, formerly known as Twitter, following its acquisition by Elon Musk, saying the social media service is losing users and “being overrun by trolls and lunatics Has gone.”
The comments continue a war of words between the two high-profile technology figures that has raged over the past year.
Responding to a question about what Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter means for the social media landscape, Wells responded Tuesday: “It’s a huge problem.”
“I think a lot of people are running away from Twitter, a lot of thoughtful and serious people are running away from Twitter,” Wells told CNBC at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon.
“Twitter was, and now I think
Ax did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by CNBC. Research from analytics firm SimilarWeb shows that engagement metrics for X are down compared to last year.
Wells’ comments come after Musk offered Wikipedia $1 billion if it changed its name to “Wikipedia.”
The dispute between the two has been going on since last year when Musk accused Wikipedia of having a “non-trivial leftist bias”. This was in response to Wikipedia editors’ debate over whether to remove the platform’s entry on Twitter files. These are a set of files that Musk has used to support claims that the company’s former management handled content moderation in a way that was biased against conservatives.
Wikipedia did not end up deleting the entry. Wikipedia relies on a community of volunteers to keep its content updated.
“I mean, he has a war of words with me, I just ignore him. So I didn’t really respond to that,” Wells said, referring to Musk’s $1 billion offer to change the name.
“What he refers to as censorship, we refer to as thoughtful editorial decisions, which is a very different matter. So, you know, Elon will be Elon.”
Earlier this year, Wales launched its own answer to X, called Trust Café. Wells described it as a “pilot project” aimed at creating a “community of trusted people”.
Wells said he was trying to create a platform in which “content is based on its credibility rather than its viral potential.” It is not advertising supported but is based on voluntary subscription.
“It’s really a quality experience, something that they feel makes their lives better,” Wells said, explaining how he plans to get people to pay for the service.
Trust Café allows people to post X-style and comment to other people. You can search for posts by topic like technology or world news. Wells admitted in relation to Trust Café, “I don’t know if I’ve got the answers, but I’m trying.”
