Wikipedia founder on Trump, Musk and why trust is back in a big way

Read time: 3 mins

In brief…

• Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia tells The News Agents that he advises Elon Musk to stick to what he knows – making electric cars – and step away from politics.
• Wikipedia has been criticised by Trump allies for its left-wing propaganda, but Wales says if Trump doesn’t like its references to the lies the president has spread, he should consider stopping lying.
• He says in a world of disinformation, Wikipedia remains committed to trust in its pages, and the volunteers who edit and curate them.

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, says Elon Musk should drop any remaining political ambitions and stick to making cars.

Speaking to The News Agents, Wales says he has “no idea” why Musk decided to focus on projects other than his formerly successful Tesla business. The tech billionaire bought Twitter in October 2022, and worked under Donald Trump’s administration for several turbulent months in 2025.

Tesla sales have seen a huge decline since Musk shifted his focus, and despite record sales in the third quarter of 2025, the company faces a steep drop in profit across the year.

“Trying to figure out what is going on in Elon Musk's head is a fool's errand,” Wales tells Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel, describing Musk as “very clever and very talented”.

“Sometimes people ask me if I have any advice for Elon Musk. Remember that electric car thing? That was a good idea. He should focus on that. Even the space stuff is good.

“I just think he probably should back away from a lot of the other stuff he's doing, because it's not great.”

Wikipedia ‘built on trust’

Wales’ career has seen him go in a different direction to other big names in the tech industry, many of whom were seen cosying up to Trump at his inauguration in January 2025. Wikipedia has remained advertising free, edited and monitored by its own community, and a nonprofit organisation where Wales himself is a volunteer and does not take a wage.

He says Wikipedia, from its early days in 2001, has always been built on trust.

“In normal, day-to-day life, we meet people all the time, and most people are perfectly nice and trustworthy,” he says.

“We just have to think about, how do we bring that out in people? How do we sustain that? How do we support that?

Wales adds that the rise of disinformation across the media and social media has led many people to value trust highly once again, and believes current tech systems are “supporting and fostering” public needs for “clear, reliable information.”

‘Trump says Wikipedia is biased – but it’s his false statements’

But that hasn’t stopped Wikipedia being accused of being a source of disinformation itself, with Musk calling for a boycott while working for Trump, claiming it had lost “balance” – a month after calling it “wokepedia”.

“If people have the idea that Wikipedia has been taken over by left-wing activists, that's just not true,” Wales says.

While he says Musk’s allegations are false, he adds that Wikipedia is keen to see them dispelled.

“If you have the idea that some of the Wikipedia entries are one sided and should be more balanced, okay, well, we need to grapple with that.”

He says it's important for Wikipedia, and the people who work on its pages, to at least look at alternative sources with "intellectual willingness and curiosity", even if they turn out to be unreliable.

Wikipedia’s own page titled False or Misleading Statements by Donald Trump is tens of thousands of words long, and Trump’s attorney Ed Martin has accused it of “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda."

But Wales remains unruffled.

"He would say it's biased, but I don't know how we can help him," he adds.

"Trump shouldn't go around saying false things."

Jimmy Wales' new book, The Seven Rules of Trust, is out now.

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.