 English logo | |
Type of site | Internet encyclopedia |
|---|---|
| Available in | English, German, Spanish, Swedish, French, Norwegian, Greek, Romanian, Estonian, Slovak, Czech, Portuguese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch |
| Owner | NFSE Media AB,Linköping, Sweden |
| URL | en |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional, via e-mail (required for editing) |
| Launched | 26 October 2006; 18 years ago (2006-10-26) |
| Current status | Active |
Content license | GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 |
Metapedia is an onlinewiki-based encyclopedia. Its views have been described by many asfascist,far-right,white nationalist,white supremacist,anti-feminist,homophobic,Islamophobic,anti-semitic,Holocaust-denying andneo-Nazi.
The Swedish Metapedia was founded in 2006 byAnders Lagerström [sv], aneo-Nazi publisher fromLinköping, Sweden.[1][2] About Lagerström, the Swedish newspaperÖstgöta Correspondenten wrote:
Anders Lagerström has long been involved in extreme right-wing organizations. In 2000, he was convicted of sprayingtear gas in the face of apolice officer. In 2002 he started the Nordic publishing house, which specializes in issuing and selling Nazi literature and white power music. Lagerström is also a prominent figure in theNordic Federation [sv]. The Nazi organization seems to be creating a "Nordic nation state". The organization's website says the following about how this imaginary nation should look: "It means a society populated by a people, and a state power and mass media entirely under Nordic control."[3]
Swedish historianRasmus Fleischer wrote:
In 2007, another network began to crystallize within Europe's radical right but with a vastly different ideological character. Activists from the Swedish group Nordiska Förbundet made a coordinated effort to use the internet to propagate a more 'positive' image ofneo fascist [sic],third position and national revolutionary politics. They created a blog portal (Motpol.nu), a web community (Nordisk.nu) and a wiki site (Metapedia). Today there exist a dozen editions of Metapedia, making it a vital medium for dissemination of the ideology labeled here as "multi-fascism". Metapedia tends to promote antisemitism in a cautious way, not stating too much in words but instead using the hyperlinked wiki format to make insinuations about aJewish conspiracy.[4]
Metapedia describes itself as being an alternative to Wikipedia that focuses onculture,art,science,history,politics andphilosophy. The site has more than 4,500 articles in English; topics covered includeEuropean history andpolitics.[5] According toCrítica de la Argentina, Metapedia has glowing descriptions ofAdolf Hitler and other Nazi figures.[6] The historianDaniel Goldhagen describes it as seeking "to create (currently in 18 languages) ananti-Semitic informational universe."[7] Metapedia calls the Holocaust agenocide only according to "politically correct history" and refers to formerU.S. PresidentBarack Obama as a "mixed race former president".[8] Its content has been noted for itsfascist,far-right,white nationalist,white supremacist,anti-feminist,homophobic,Islamophobic,anti-semitic,Holocaust-denying, andneo-Nazi points of view.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
The wiki covers a total of 17 languages, with German Metapedia being the most developed.[14]
According to theNorth Rhine-WestphalianOffice for the Protection of the Constitution, Metapedia's articles are characterized byhistorical negationism and laudingNazi Germany.[13][2] For this reason, the GermanFederal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien) started anindexing process, which would consider as to whether Metapedia is "harmful to young people".[15][needs update]
In early 2007, within half a year of the launching of the original Swedish edition, Metapedia received much Swedish media attention for its similarity toWikipedia (it usesMediaWiki, 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 cataloguingJews inSwedish media, and for characterizing Swedish companies as either "Swedish-owned" or "Jewish-owned".[16][17] This led to an investigation by theChancellor of Justice (Justitiekanslern) to decide whether the site should be prosecuted for inciting hatred or for violating the SwedishPrivacy Law (Personuppgiftslagen [sv]).[18] 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 (Yttrandefrihetsgrundlagen [sv]) or the Privacy Law.[19] 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.[20]
In a June 2017 article, Alexis Sobel Fitts fromWired noted that the Hungarian and German Metapedia are "especially popular".[8] As of 2022, the Hungarian version is closed.
Metapedia runs onMediaWiki, afree and open-sourcewiki software platform written inPHP and built upon theMySQL database.[15][21][22]
Metapedia is headed by Lagerström and Lennart Berg, who also runs the supporting NFSE Media AB.[18]
