The mysterious user editing a global open-source map in China’s favor

A few years ago, the Indian OSM contributor said, they received a call from the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala, inviting them to hold a workshop on editing Wikipedia. “[They told me] that they detected a lot of mainland Chinese influence on Wikipedia articles of Tibetan topics, which was adding a certain bias,” they said. The impact of such changes could be profound in shaping the worldview of Wikipedia readers. “It was happening slowly over time, and, unless you were really tuned into it, one could not detect it,” they said. 

The contributor believes OSM is similarly vulnerable. “It’s happening. It will continue to happen, maybe in more deeper ways than we ever imagined,” they said.

https://restofworld.org/2021/the-mysterious-user-editing-a-global-open-source-map-in-chinas-favor/

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