In Wikipedia articles, the indication of the birthplace of well-known people from Estonia and Lithuania — politicians, cultural figures, and athletes — is systematically changing. This was reported by the media of neighboring countries in early January.
Previously, a specific state was indicated as the place of birth, but now in many cases, the Soviet Union appears in the "country of birth" field. Latvijas Radio found out that the biographies of well-known people in Latvia are also being changed in this way, for example, Edgars Rinkevics, writes LSM+.
Biographies are also being changed for Latvians
In the case of Estonia, one Wikipedia user changed the birthplaces of nearly 600 people in English-language articles, indicating that they were born in the Estonian SSR, Soviet Union. In one instance, such edits were made for more than 21 consecutive hours, and the user characterized them as a "correction" of Estonia's history. This was reported by the Estonian National Broadcasting Company ERR, citing a study by journalist Ronalds Līves.
The Lithuanian publication Lrytas reported similar actions, resulting in several politicians having their place of birth changed to the Lithuanian SSR. This specifically affected President Gitanas Nausėda and former President Dalia Grybauskaitė.
Considering these reports, disinformation researcher Anete Berzkalne from Latvijas Radio checked whether similar changes had been made to the biographies of well-known people in Latvia and found that Latvia was also not left out. For several individuals, the place of birth was changed from "Latvia" to "Latvian SSR, Soviet Union." Among them are Edgars Rinkevics, Evika Silina, Valdis Dombrovskis, Egils Levits, Helena Demakova, as well as athletes such as Dairis Bertans, Sandis Ozolins, and Kaspars Berzins.
Approaching the Russian historical narrative
Even if it concerns only individual biographical entries, they affect the reflection of the history of the Baltic states in one of the most widely used sources of information in the world. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia did not legally cease to exist during the period of Soviet occupation, so the format "Latvian SSR, Soviet Union" is aligned with the Russian historical narrative. Such seemingly insignificant elements gradually form a "big narrative," influencing people's perceptions.
Sharp changes are not necessary for this — the impact can also occur in a slower, less noticeable way.
Wikipedia is often criticized for its content creation principles: articles can be created and edited by any user, regardless of their level of knowledge in a specific area. In cases where ambiguities or disagreements arise, they are usually attempted to be resolved through discussion to clarify the position of the broader Wikipedia community.
Such a discussion was initiated on October 26 of last year — users were invited to express their opinions on how to reflect the birthplace of people born in the territories of the Baltic states during the periods from 1940 to 1941 and from 1944 to 1991, that is, during the Soviet occupation.
Representatives of the Baltic states are in the minority
Studying the initiator of this discussion, Latvijas Radio found out that it is a man who, as he indicated back in 2023, was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. Overall, 19 users participated in the discussion. Although it was impossible to determine the country of origin of each participant precisely, available public information suggests that representatives of the Baltic states were in the minority.
The discussion concluded with the decision that the "most appropriate" option is to indicate in the biographical "window" the city corresponding to the Soviet Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union, for example: Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union. Previously, only the city and country were usually indicated, for example: Riga, Latvia.
Edits under constant control
Based on this principle, adopted in a narrow circle, changes continue even now. Users from the Baltic states regularly revert to previous formulations, but these edits are canceled in a very short time, citing the aforementioned discussion. It creates the impression that users advocating for the mention of the Soviet Union are "on watch" and respond to changes almost instantly.
The fact that such a situation is observed simultaneously in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia suggests possible coordinated activity.
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that regularly ranks among the top ten most visited websites in the world. It is available in more than 300 languages and contains over seven million articles. Over the years, Wikipedia has become one of the main sources people turn to for quick basic information on various topics.
Additionally, it should be noted that AI-based chatbots also use Wikipedia as a data source. For this reason, Latvijas Radio has repeatedly asked the English-language ChatGPT questions about where, for example, Edgars Rinkevics, Evika Silina, and Dairis Bertans were born. In several cases, the responses indeed indicated that their place of birth is the Latvian SSR, Soviet Union, citing Wikipedia.
This means that such information reaches not only Wikipedia readers but also, through chatbots, reaches an even broader audience, creating the impression without additional explanations that these individuals are citizens of the Soviet Union rather than Latvia.
