A series of incidents in 2009 led to Church of Scientologyowned networks being blocked from making edits to Wikipedia articles relating to Scientology. The Church of Scientology has long had a controversial history on the Internet and had initiated campaigns to manipulate material and remove information critical of itself from the web. From early in Wikipedia's history, conflict arose regarding the website's coverage of Scientology. Disputes began in earnest in 2005, with users disagreeing about whether or not to describe Scientology as an abusive cult or religion, and continued through the decade.

WikiScanner, a publicly searchable database that linked anonymous edits on Wikipedia to the organizations where those edits apparently originated, made public the nature of edits on Wikipedia which were able to be traced directly back to Church of Scientology-controlled computers. News organizations reported that the edits included removing criticism of Scientology, downplaying connections between Scientology and the New Cult Awareness Network, and adding links to Scientology-affiliated groups such as the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

In January 2009, a case involving Scientology was brought before Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee. Wikipedia administrators presented evidence during the case that Church of Scientology-controlled computers were used to promote the organization, using multiple user accounts. One user, going by the pseudonym "COFS", admitted this pattern of editing and stated the edits from Scientology computers would continue. In May 2009, the Arbitration Committee decided to restrict editing from IP addresses belonging to the Church of Scientology to prevent biased edits. The decision meant that Church of Scientology-controlled IP addresses received the same blockable status as open proxies on the site. Many Scientology critics were also banned; the committee concluded that both sides had "gamed policy" and resorted to "battlefield tactics", with articles on living persons being the "worst casualties" of edits. On 7 January 2022, the rule of IP addresses owned by Scientology being blocked as if they were open proxies was lifted.

Arbitration Committee member Roger Davies wrote the majority of the decision, and commented to The New York Times that due to the controversial nature of the case, the decision was crafted so as not to focus directly upon any particular individual. Statements from Church of Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw labelled the arbitration ruling as a routine matter and maintained there were still "gross inaccuracies" on the Scientology article. In a statement to CNN, Pouw denied the presence of an organized campaign by the Church of Scientology to manipulate Wikipedia. Scientology representative Tommy Davis emphasized to the St. Petersburg Times that users critical of the organization were also banned, and similarly denied that Church of Scientology leadership arranged a campaign to manipulate entries on Wikipedia.

Background

The Church of Scientology has a controversial history on the Internet. It has been criticized for attempting to restrict freedom of speech on the Internet; this conflict has come to be known as Scientology versus the Internet, or Scientology v. The Net. alternate link The organization has attempted to manipulate and maintain power over its public image on the web. Early lawsuits involved in this dispute have included Religious Technology Center v. Netcom, as well as Religious Technology Center v. F.A.C.T. Net. Writing in his book, Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age, author Mike Godwin noted, "In one of the earliest widely publicized sets of cases involving intellectual property on the Net, the Church of Scientology has been exploring the uses of copyright and trade secret law when it comes to silencing its critics, many of them former members of the church." The Guardian noted, "According to insiders and security experts, Scientologists have been conducting concerted campaigns for more than a decade to remove online information critical of the organisation." In response to criticism over its actions on the Internet, Scientology has stated its efforts are aimed at defending the copyrights over its secretive spiritual documents.

Legal cases have involved a newsgroup focused on the topic called alt.religion.scientology, which revealed information from advanced Scientology methods including the Operating Thetan (OT) levels that describe the story of Xenu. In 1995, attorneys representing the Church of Scientology tried to get alt.religion.scientology removed from Usenet. This maneuver had the opposite impact for Scientology, serving to drive up popularity of alt.religion.scientology and resulting in a "declaration of war" from the hacker organization Cult of the Dead Cow. Professor David S. Touretzky of the computer science department and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a critic of Scientology and proponent of freedom of speech on the Internet. He noted the Scientology organization was "trying to threaten freedom of speech on the Internet by making service providers legally responsible for their customers' speech." Wendy M. Grossman, journalist and founder of The Skeptic, observed of Scientology's attempts to suppress information on the Internet:

History

Early conflict Conflict within the topic of Scientology on Wikipedia arose early on from the website's beginnings. Author Jonathan Zittrain noted in The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It, his 2009 book published by Yale University Press, that "as Wikipedia grew it began to attract editors who had never crossed paths before, and who disagreed on articles they were simultaneously editing. One person would say that Scientology was a 'cult', the other would change that back to 'religion,' and the first would revert it back again." In a 2005 article about Wikipedia for The Guardian, Charles Arthur noted individuals debated online, "whether Scientology should be classed as a cult", and he compared the "cultism" of Scientology to that of Wikipedia itself. ABC News noted in a 2009 article, "Wikipedia disputes about Scientology have gone on since 2005."

In 2006, conflict on Wikipedia within the topic of Scientology was drawn out over specific disagreements. Journalist Alan Bjerga of McClatchy Newspapers reported in August 2006, "Wayne Saewyc, a Wikipedia spokesman, said debates on controversial topics can become incredibly time-consuming and sometimes maddening. In the entry covering Scientology, for example, contributors argued for nine months over whether the Scientologist method of childbirth should be called 'silent birth' or 'quiet birth. In an October 2006 article about Wikipedia, Paul Vallely of The Independent commented that, "Some pages seem to have been taken over by fanatics and special interest groups (try the Scientology page)." Wikipedia user and Scientology critic David Gerard is cited in The Daily Telegraph in October 2006 about the state of Scientology articles on the site as believing that "the Wikipedia entry is the most balanced and informative account to be found anywhere on the web." Gerard commented on "NPOV" (neutral point of view) in the topic, "This is a good example of why NPOV is one of the most revolutionary things about Wikipedia. On the web you'll find a lot of Church of Scientology sites, and a lot of critics' sites, which are generally very bitter. On Wikipedia you have to be neutral, and you have to be able to reference your facts."

WikiScanner revelations The development of the WikiScanner software by Virgil Griffith in 2007 revealed changes made to Wikipedia articles by Scientology organization computers. CBS News reported, "Many of the edits are predictably self-interested: PCs in Scientology officialdom were used to remove criticism in the church's Wikipedia entry." The Independent noted, "Computers with IP addresses traced to the Church of Scientology were used to expunge critical paragraphs about the cult's world-wide operations." The Times reported that a computer operated by the Church of Scientology was used to manipulate information in the Wikipedia article about the Cult Awareness Network, "A computer linked to the Church of Scientology's network was used to delete references to links between it and a group dubbed the 'Cult Awareness Network. Forbes noted, "Scientology officials appear to have removed critical comments from an anti-cult organization."

Der Spiegel reported in more depth on some of the edits revealed by WikiScanner to have been made on Wikipedia by computers associated with the Church of Scientology. From 2003 to 2007, 170 edits were made, a large proportion of which focused on Scientologist views critical of psychiatry. For example, the article "Kurt Cobain" was edited by a Scientologist in order to include a link to the Scientology-founded "Citizens Commission on Human Rights" (CCHR), putting forth the notion that "the singer's childhood Ritalin prescription led him to suicide". Multiple edits involved adding links to webpages of organizations affiliated with Scientology.

Reporting for Slate, journalist Michael Agger observed that an edit by a Scientology-associated IP address to a Scientology-related article on Wikipedia does not necessarily indicate such an edit was made by an employee of the organization. Virgil Griffith explained, "Technically, we don't know if it came from an agent of that company. However, we do know that edit came from someone with access to their network. If the edit occurred during working hours, then we can reasonably assume that the person is either an employee of that company or a guest that was allowed access to their network."

Project Chanology

After the Scientology organization tried to remove a promotional film of Scientology featuring celebrity member Tom Cruise from the Internet, a group of web-based activists known as "Anonymous" focused efforts against Scientology. Anonymous disrupted Scientology websites and spread anti-Scientologist materials online. In July 2008, Messenger Newspapers noted, "A war between internet collective Anonymous and the Church of Scientology" had been "fought out largely on the battlefields of YouTube, Wikipedia and other websites", before emerging to become a movement with protests taking place in front of Scientology buildings. Known as Project Chanology, the movement was "Organised from a Wikipedia-style website (editable by anyone) and through anonymous internet chat rooms". The New York Times noted that through its actions related to attempts to remove the Tom Cruise video from the Internet, the Church of Scientology became a victim of the Streisand effect – a phenomenon whereby attempts to suppress information on the Internet end up having the opposite impact.

Arbitration Committee ban