Abraham Weintraub–Wikipedia controversy

Weintraub's Portuguese Wikipedia page in June 2019

The Abraham Weintraub–Wikipedia controversy refers to the events surrounding attempts by Brazil's Ministry of Education (MEC), under minister Abraham Weintraub, to influence the content of his Portuguese Wikipedia page.

The article was created shortly after Weintraub's appointment in April 2019 and documented controversies involving him in detail. In June 2019, the MEC Social Communication Office emailed a Wikipedia administrator requesting that the article be deleted, citing that it was not editable by unexperienced editors. This was followed by a second email in August threatening legal action if restrictions on editing were not lifted.

The controversy garnered media attention, sparked debates among Wikipedia editors, and was the subject of a speech by Federal Deputy Marcelo Freixo questioning the misuse of public resources in the furtherance of personal interests. Weintraub sued the Wikimedia Foundation for defamation; the lawsuit was dismissed in 2023 due to a lack of evidence and a failure to specify the defamatory content.

Background

Weintraub in 2019

On April 8, 2019, then-president Jair Bolsonaro announced on Twitter that Abraham Weintraub would succeed Ricardo Vélez Rodríguez as Brazil's Minister of Education . Three hours later, a Portuguese Wikipedia article on Weintraub was created.[1] Following multiple incidents of vandalism on the page, Portuguese Wikipedia administrator Chronus restricted edits from inexperienced users[a] for 45 days.[2]

The article described multiple controversies involving Weintraub, such as budget cuts he imposed on federally-funded universities and institutes, and his unsuccessful attempt to have his father declared legally incompetent.[b] The page also covered accusations of nepotism, citing his family members' positions at the Federal University of São Paulo,[4] his claim that there was "chaos" (Brazilian Portuguese: balbúrdia) on federal university campuses,[2][6] a Twitter video where Weintraub claimed that MEC was a victim of fake news,[2][3] and his stance on teachers and students who publicly criticized the government.[3][6]

The article also mentioned that Weintraub's father had been persecuted by the Brazilian military regime and had written a book advocating for the decriminalization of cannabis, a progressive position at odds with Weintraub's conservative views as part of the Bolsonaro government.[3][4] All information in the article was supported by reliable sources, as required by Wikipedia's policies.[2]

June 27 email

Chronus in 2018

On June 27, the MEC Social Communication Office emailed Chronus requesting the deletion of the article on Weintraub, stating that it contained "unverified information" that could lead to "ambiguous interpretations", justifying the request with the ministry's inability to edit the content;[1] the office tried to edit the article themselves, but their edits were reverted.[4] Chronus posted the email on the Portuguese Wikipedia forum on July 1, asking other editors for help on how to proceed. Chronus stated that he did not intend to respond to the ministry's email as communication should have been directed to the Wikimedia Foundation. Editors suggested that he request clarification.[1] An hour after the e-mail was posted on the forum, an editor marked Weintraub's page as needing review.[1] The event was covered by Estadão[2] and led daily views on the page to increase from less than 200 on June 26 to over 23,000 on July 4.[7]

Between July 1 and 4, 25 edits were made to Weintraub's article and, on its talk page, editors discussed how the budget cuts imposed by Weintraub should be described in the text.[6] Editors worked on improving the article, but did not remove the controversial information.[2] Following the event, Portuguese Wikipedia editors wrote a collective statement about how Wikipedia operates and commented on the MEC request to delete Weintraub's article, which was added to the article.[7]

August 13 email

Padula in 2017

On August 13, MEC emailed Portuguese Wikipedia administrator Rodrigo Padula [pt], requesting that the page be unlocked for editing by non-confirmed users, so that Weintraub could "exercise his right to a full defense and counterarguments", citing objections to how the article described his budget cuts, and threatened legal action if Wikipedia did not respond in five days.[8]

Padula, who had previously contacted MEC offering to provide training on Wikipedia's dynamics for ministry employees,[9] responded by [9] explaining Wikipedia's rules and offering to explain the dynamics of the website to MEC.[10]

Padula then removed protections on the page, reportedly not in response to the email, but because he felt they were no longer needed.[9][10] However, after further vandalism, it was protected again.[5] Padula saw the MEC threat as an attempt at censorship,[9][5] and contacted the Wikimedia Foundation, who he said closely monitored the situation and offered legal advice in the event the matter was taken to court.[11]

On September 4, Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) Federal Deputy Marcelo Freixo filed a formal request that Weintraub provide clarification on the use of ministry resources to further his personal interests on Wikipedia. In a speech on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies, Freixo said: "This is serious, it is not republican, and someone so shallow, with such petty initiatives, is unworthy of a position such as Minister of Education".[4][c] Responding to Freixo's request, Weintraub confirmed that he had directed MEC staff to attempt to remove the article.[11]

Lawsuit

At an unspecified date, Weintraub sued the Wikimedia Foundation stating that his page contained "exclusively defamatory content", including the information that one of his former advisors had attempted to edit the article. In 2023, the 8th Civil Court of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP) ruled against Weintraub, finding that he had failed to prove that the content was false and did not specify exactly what information was defamatory. The presiding judge also dismissed the case.[12]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Edits from accounts with less than ten edits and less than four days old were disallowed.
  2. ^ Attributed to multiple references[2][3][4][5]
  3. ^ This is a translation from the original quote in Portuguese: "Isso é grave, não é republicano e não está à altura de um cargo como ministro da Educação alguém tão raso, alguém com iniciativas tão pequenas."[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Prudenciano, Gregory (July 3, 2019). "MEC tenta excluir perfil de Weintraub na Wikipédia alegando 'interpretações dúbias'" [MEC tries to delete Weintraub's Wikipedia profile, citing 'dubious interpretations']. Estadão (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Esteves, Bernardo (July 31, 2019). "Balbúrdia enciclopédica" [Encyclopedic chaos]. Piauí (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Basilio, Ana Luiza (July 4, 2019). "Por que o MEC quer excluir a biografia de Weintraub no Wikipedia?" [Why does MEC want to delete Weintraub's biography on Wikipedia?]. CartaCapital (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Maia, Dhiego (September 9, 2019). "Weintraub usa MEC em guerra contra Wikipédia para controlar seu verbete" [Weintraub uses MEC in war against Wikipedia to control his article]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Veiga, Edison (September 6, 2019). "Ministério da Educação tentou censurar a Wikipédia" [Ministry of Education tried to censor Wikipedia] (in Brazilian Portuguese). Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Borges, Helena (July 4, 2019). "Perfil de ministro da Educação na Wikipedia passa por 25 mudanças em três dias e MEC pede que seja tirado do ar" [Education minister's Wikipedia profile undergoes 25 changes in three days, and MEC requests its removal]. O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Bermúdez, Ana Carla (September 19, 2019). "A luta de editores da Wikipédia para evitar Ctrl+Z no verbete de Weintraub" [Wikipedia editors' struggle to prevent Ctrl+Z on Weintraub's article]. UOL (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  8. ^ Neto, Nelson Lima (August 16, 2019). "Weintraub ameaça entrar na Justiça contra o... Wikipédia" [Weintraub threatens to take legal action against... Wikipedia]. O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d Vasques, Lucas (August 16, 2019). "Administrador da Wikipédia rebate ameaça de processo de Weintraub: 'Tentativa de censura'" [Wikipedia administrator responds to Weintraub's lawsuit threat: 'Attempt at censorship']. Fórum (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  10. ^ a b Silva, Victor Hugo (August 2019). "MEC ameaça processar a Wikipédia por verbete de Weintraub" [MEC threatens to sue Wikipedia over Weintraub's article]. Tecnoblog (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Maia, Dhiego (November 4, 2019). "Weintraub admite uso de técnicos do MEC para apagar seu verbete da Wikipédia" [Weintraub admits using MEC staff to delete his Wikipedia article]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
  12. ^ Neto, Nelson Lima (June 22, 2023). "Não colou a queixa de Abraham Weintraub sobre a sua 'biografia' no Wikipédia" [Abraham Weintraub's complaint about his 'biography' on Wikipedia didn't stick]. O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved December 30, 2024.
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