The 6 most controversial edited Wikipedia pages

These are some of the most edited Wikipedia pages ever 

Mollie Goodfellow
Friday 15 January 2016 13:37 EST
Comments
These are the most edited pages
These are the most edited pages (AFP/Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Part of the beauty of Wikipedia is that anyone can edit the articles and add in bits of wisdom.

But with great power, comes great responsibility and often times Wikipedia pages can find themselves changed to things that aren’t true.

For example, after the recent death of Alan Rickman, someone edited his Wikipedia page to say “Alan was killed on the 14th of January 2016, when his heart was cut out with a spoon. Robin Locksley, Harry Potter and John McClaine are prime suspects.”

Wikipedia keeps a record of which are the most edited pages, and here are some of the more controversial.

Former President of the United States George W. Bush’s page is the most edited on the website. The page has had 45,862 edits since its creation, with most of the edits being made around 2004 to 2005, when he was re-elected and the Iraq War began. Current president Barack Obama has had his page edited 23,514 times since its creation.

Perhaps a surprising addition to the most edited pages includes the list of WWE personnel. The list of wrestlers who compete for the biggest prize in sports entertainment has been edited 42,836 times since the page was made.

Fourth on the list of most edited pages is singer Michael Jackson, who died in 2009. The pop icon’s Wikipedia entry has been modified 27,050 times.

The son of God and basis for Christianity has had his Twitter page edited 26,580 times. He’s not the only religious figure to feature on the list. The Catholic Church has had its page edited 23,884 times and the page for Jehovah’s Witnesses has had 18,902 edits.

5. Adolf Hitler

The Austrian-born leader of the Nazi party has had his Wiki page edited 23,499 times since the pages creation. There’s also a game on Wikipedia, called ‘Clicks to Hitler’, where you click ‘random article’, from that article you have to see how many links you follow to get to Adolf Hitler’s page.

The pop star, who shot to fame as a teenager with the iconic Hit Me Baby One More Time, has had her page edited 23,106 times.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in