Metapedia

Metapedia is an online wiki-based encyclopedia dedicated to fascist, far-right, white nationalist, white supremacist, anti-feminist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, and neo-Nazi points of view.

History

The Swedish Metapedia was founded in 2006 by Anders Lagerström (born October 14, 1977), a far-right publisher from Linköping, Sweden. About Lagerström, ''Östgöta Correspondenten'' wrote:

Swedish historian Rasmus Fleischer wrote:

Content

Metapedia describes itself as being an alternative to Wikipedia that focuses on culture, art, science, history, politics and philosophy. As of June 2022, the site has more than 7,200 articles in English; topics covered include European history and politics. '' Crítica de la Argentina'' says Metapedia has glowing descriptions of Adolf Hitler and other Nazi figures. Daniel Goldhagen describes it as seeking "to create (currently in 18 languages) an anti-Semitic informational universe." Metapedia calls the Holocaust a genocide only according to " politically correct history" and refers to former U.S. President Barack Obama as a " mixed race former president". Its content has been noted for its fascist, far-right, white nationalist, white supremacist, anti-feminist, homophobic, Islamophobic, antisemitic, Holocaust-denying, and neo-Nazi points of view."Metapedia" als nationales Pendant zu "Wikipedia"
(i.e "Metapedia" as a nationalist counterpart to "Wikipedia") from: "Report by the NRW Office for the Protection of the Constitution for the year 2008" by the Ministry of Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia. pp. 59f.

The wiki covers a total of 17 languages, with German Metapedia being the most developed.

According to the North Rhine-Westphalian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Metapedia's articles are characterized by historical negationism and lauding Nazi Germany. For this reason, the German Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons () started an indexing process, which would consider as to whether Metapedia is "harmful to young people".Bulletin of the German Parliament 16/10215
from 12 September 2008, pp. 6f.: Answer of the German government to a parliamentary query by the Green Member of the German Parliament Monika Lazar

In early 2007, within half a year of the launching of the original Swedish edition, Metapedia received much Swedish media attention for its similarity to Wikipedia and some of its contents, in particular for its positive characterization of many Nazi German personalities, for cataloguing Jews in Swedish media, and for characterizing Swedish companies as either "Swedish-owned" or "Jewish-owned". This led to an investigation by the Chancellor of Justice () to decide whether the site should be prosecuted for inciting hatred or for violating the Swedish Privacy Law ().
Östgöta Correspondenten, 9 February 2007 , After reviewing the site's contents, the Chancellor of Justice decided to terminate investigations, since nothing had been found that violated the Freedom of Speech Act () or the Privacy Law. In January 2009, in a response to further attention given to the site, the Swedish Chancellor of Justice opined that Metapedia presented a positive image of Adolf Hitler, but decided not to restart an investigation since this was not illegal.

In a June 2017 article, Alexis Sobel Fitts from ''Wired'' noted that the Hungarian and German Metapedia are "especially popular". As of 2022, the Hungarian version is closed.

Operation

Metapedia runs on MediaWiki, a free and open-source wiki software platform written in PHP and built upon the MySQL database.Judeförföljelser på internet
, Dagens Nyheter, 8 February 2007 Extremisternas "uppslagsverk" kan vara olagligt
Östgöta Correspondenten, 9 February 2007

Metapedia is headed by Lagerström and Lennart Berg, who also runs the supporting NFSE Media AB.

See also

*Alt-right
* Gab (social network)
* Neo-Nazism in Sweden
* New Right
* Far-right politics
*Fascism in Europe

References

External links

Metapedia in English - Main Page

{{authority control

Alt-right websites
Criticism of feminism
Holocaust-denying websites
MediaWiki websites
Multilingual websites
Neo-Nazi websites
Swedish online encyclopedias
Works about white nationalism
Internet properties established in 2006
White supremacy in Europe
Websites with far-right material
Fascist propaganda
Conspiracist media