Wikipedia is somewhat federated, just not in the same way that the fediverse is.
Each language edition of Wikipedia is its own little island that connects with the others. Then there's Wiktionary, Commons, Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikivoyage and Wikidata. They all have their own policy, moderation, culture etc. but they all connect with each other.
They all link a bit more like how IRC servers come together to form a network - it's a closed system of federation rather than it being open to the world - and the Wikimedia Foundation does sit on top providing a level of governance and technical support.
I don't think they're federated. They don't transparently share data using a common protocol under the hood. They simply link to each other. They're a web.
Re:What Is the Fediverse?
by Nasreddin_Hodja on Saturday April 30, 2022 @01:49PM
(#31217775)
Wikipedia is just someone's server. Owner may turn it down without asking authors of its content. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/wikipe...
The English edition of Wikipedia blacked out, but IIRC other language editions did not.
Plus there was a huge community discussion - and vote - that was held in the days before the blackout. It wasn't the WMF making a unilateral decision to do anything.
If it went down tomorrow, it would certainly be mirrored and re-upped almost immediately, but it's not "federated" in the same sense as e.g. a Mastodon, IRC, email, or USENET.