Metapedia is an online wiki-based website which spreads neo-Nazi content.
History
The Swedish Metapedia was founded in 2006 by , a neo-Nazi publisher from Linköping, Sweden. About Lagerström, the Swedish newspaper 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. By 2007, the site had more than 4,500 articles in English; topics covered include European history and politics. According to Crítica de la Argentina, Metapedia has glowing descriptions of Adolf Hitler and other Nazi figures. The historian Daniel Goldhagen describes it as seeking "to create (currently in 18 languages) an anti-Semitic informational universe." Metapedia openly denies the Holocaust calling it 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 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 North Rhine-Westphalia's 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 (it uses MediaWiki, the same software as Wikipedia and so has a similar visual style) 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".Propagandapedia Kristianstadsbladet, 20 February 2007 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. , Sveriges Radio Östergötland, 20 February 2007 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. Föreningen Grävande Journalister, 26 January 2009
In a June 2017 article, Alexis Sobel Fitts from Wired noted that the Hungarian and German Metapedia are "especially popular".
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 , 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 Far-right politics Fascism in Europe Gab (social network) Neo-Nazism in Sweden New Right
References
External links Metapedia in English—Main Page