Wikipedia’s parent company releases a new universal code of conduct related to abuse, profanity and misinformation of things on the site

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia created by a community of volunteers. Wikipedia is among the world’s top 15 websites with around 1.7 billion visitors per month. Wikipedia has been in talks for quite some time now in terms for having misleading and false information. An action has finally been taken regarding this by the nonprofit Wikipedia’s parent company called The Wikimedia Foundation. They have set a new universal code of conduct that has set rules according to the community guide lines. This code of conduct will acknowledge the fact of negative behavior that is there on the site. The company recently announced that it was their duty to take hands with this responsibility and make the site comfortable for use with more than 50 percent of the population now having access to the internet globally.

This is the company’s aim towards creating a safe and reliable information source. Wikimedia’s new policy is making sure to destroy any manipulated content on Wikipedia which is the world’s largest online encyclopedia.

Katherine Maher, the chief executive of the foundation said that this universal code of conduct is made to provide a safe, positive and healthy environment for the users of this new Internet era. The code includes a 1600 words binding document that is to be read by anyone who wishes to participate in the projects preventing any thing that can come in harassment, profanity and attempts to publish false and manipulated texts. This universal code of conduct is put together by 1500 Wikipedia volunteers from 19 different Wikipedia projects. The volunteers represented five continents and thirty languages. It includes rules related to harassment and other non-tolerable behavior in clear and simple words. The code is aimed towards preventing anything that can be demeaning towards others whether it is in terms of abuse of language or by false information or things that can promote violence.

The code of conduct was released after 15th January when Wikipedia celebrated its 20th anniversary. This move comes after the much news that was made on the internet in terms of manipulated controls of information and things that can promote violence or abuse regarding others. This was being used by political parties for their advantages to spread misinformation against their rivals. The code is made by keeping every community’s ethnical guidelines on hand.

Photo: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

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