How does Wikipedia, which anyone can edit, prevent the spread of misinformation in the US presidential election?

by Noj Han

In preparation for the US presidential election in November 2020, Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc. have come up with measures to prevent the spread and confusion of misinformation. Wikipedia, an Internet encyclopedia that anyone can edit, has also begun efforts such as 'restricting presidential page editors' and 'strengthening surveillance', saying that it could be used to disseminate false information. I will.

Wikipedia's Plan to Resist Election Day Misinformation | WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedias-plan-to-resist-election-day-misinformation/

Wikipedia prepares for election day misinformation
https://mashable.com/article/wikipedia-election-day-misinformation/

Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia on the Internet, can be edited by anyone by registering, so in the past Scottish Wikipedia was messed up by just one person, and 'vandalism' was often a problem. I will. For this reason, in order to prevent falsification and forgery, algorithms for identifying vandalism have been developed, and policy revisions have been repeated to prevent false information from spreading on Wikipedia. ..

Fake news and the spread of misinformation are thought to have affected voters in the 2016 presidential election, and to avoid repeating the same thing, platforms such as Google , Facebook, and Twitter will be used for the 2020 presidential election. Companies are taking measures.

Google, Microsoft, Wikipedia, etc. cooperate with government to fight 'fake news of presidential election' --GIGAZINE

Wikipedia has also launched an initiative called ' Extended confirmed protection ' to prevent the spread of false information in the presidential election. This effort is not always done on Wikipedia and applies only to a limited number of confusing topics. Content that has been approved for Extended confirmed protection can only be edited by users who 'registered more than 30 days ago' and 'have edited Wikipedia more than 500 times in the past'. By targeting the 2020 presidential election page for Extended confirmed protection, newcomers can be prevented from easily editing the page.

Also, if you have an account on Wikipedia, you can put any page in the ' watch list ' and use the function to be notified when there is any change in the page. By using this watch list, multiple managers are monitoring changes such as pages about elections in each state and pages about parliament.

In addition to the above, a person who has been editing Wikipedia for many years has told WIRED that 'further protection' will be deployed. It is possible that the final election results will be more restricted in page editing rights, including that only certified media outlets will be able to do so.