Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-01-23/In the news
World watched as Wikipedia shut down for SOPA blackout
World watches as Wikipedia shuts down for SOPA blackout
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/History_Wikipedia_English_SOPA_2012_Blackout2.jpg/370px-History_Wikipedia_English_SOPA_2012_Blackout2.jpg)
Last week's 24 hour Wikipedia blackout protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act was heavily covered by the world's international media. A full page listing media covering of the blackout is on Meta-Wiki.
Before the protest started,
The blackout led Seth Borenstein at MSNBC to wonder what it would be like if the Internet went down. The article claims that for a day or so, there wouldn't be any major physical harm, but after a few days it would lead to economic crisis and mass unemployment. As a response to the blackout,
Twitterers gently mocked Wikipedia's absence with a hashtag called "#FactsWithoutWikipedia" where people made up outlandish claims. MSNBC reports on doug_gross' 'fact': "Marc Zuckerberg (real name, Horblatt Snarfleblurp) was an alien scout sent to Earth to ruin human productivity." Russia Today posted more tweets:
- "Eminem had the same skin-whitening treatment as Michael Jackson, but it worked."
- "The British version of Wikipedia is called Wikipaedia."
- "France has lost its AAA rating. This means they are no longer allowed to sell small batteries."
The meme was also taken up by a number of other news sources: Now. Here. This., the blog of Time Out London, pulled some choice London facts like "Sophie Ellis-Bextor once ran for a Lib Dem councillor seat in West London" and "Ed Miliband is a London based Alt-Folk band". IrishCentral.com quoted tweets posted under the derived hashtag #irishFactsWithoutWikipedia including "The IRA was a splinter group of The Richard and Judy Book Club that just got a bit out of hand". SBNation.com quoted a variety of NASCAR-related phony facts.
There was a significant amount of post-blackout coverage, with one focus on US senators who changed their minds over SOPA, as well as how SOPA and PIPA would affect the Internet as we know it.
Discuss this story
Tell you what struck me - the comcom's phones started ringing on Tuesday morning, soon as the UK journalists got into work and saw the warning countdown banner up. Then the UK bunch had to do press for the US media (hence me on NPR) 'cos San Francisco wouldn't be awake at the time. (Though, of course, they were.) Journalists joked about students missing Wikipedia ... but if anyone's utterly dependent on Wikipedia, it's the journalists.
(Post-mortem here. Including "how to get roped in as a media volunteer", for those wondering. It can be six months between calls, but when we need you we need you.) - David Gerard (talk) 22:41, 26 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]