News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Wikipedia Lost 3B Organic Search Visits to Google in 2019. Parent comment

Re:Wikipedia Lost 3B Organic Search Visits to Google in 2019 by pydry on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @11:05AM (#23477837)
I remember when Wikipedia used to warn against donations from Google and the like and running ads because even if it didn't undermine their independence it would at the very least undermine the perception of their independence.

Looks like they're ok with it now though.

I suspect it won't be too long before they get used to this largesse and won't want to do anything that might jeapoardize it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Wikipedia Lost 3B Organic Search Visits to Google in 2019 by Cthulhu_ on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @11:31AM (#23478183)
The difference is that google's donation is a no-strings-attached donation, whereas if they were running ads, Google could decide to hold their payout or serve hostile and invasive ads. Running ads on that scale equals leverage.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Wikipedia Lost 3B Organic Search Visits to Google in 2019 by not2b on Wednesday June 10, 2020 @11:28AM (#23478149)
It isn't "largesse" because Google's donation is a small fraction of what they are collecting. It would be a concern if a large fraction of their income came from Google.
[ Parent | on HN ]