"Philip Cross"
"Philip Cross" is the name of a Wikipedia editor registered in 2004 and active since 2005.[1]
Possibly "the most visible and notorious Wikipedia editor"[2], Cross' edits attracted controversy in May 2018.[3]
Philip Cross focuses on particular prominent pages, and has made the majority of the edits to the Wikipedia page on Media Lens, made around 1700 edits to the page of George Galloway, and a total of over 186,000 edits as of February 2021.[4]
On 30 October 2022, the account was suspended for "disruptive editing by repeatedly trying to game or push the limits of TBANs".[5]
Contents
Own Words
The user page of "Philip Cross" describes him as a jazz and drama enthusiast. He is also a controversial Wikipedia user and editor who dedicates considerable effort to editing the Wikipedia pages of well-known British anti-establishment journalists, bloggers, authors and academics.[6]
Pseudonym?
“My view is that Philip Cross probably is a real person, but that he fronts for a group acting under his name. It is undeniably true, in fact the government has boasted, that both the MOD and GCHQ have “cyber-war” ops aiming to defend the “official narrative" against alternative news media, and that is precisely the purpose of the “Philip Cross” operation on Wikipedia. The extreme regularity of output argues against “Philip Cross” being either a one man or volunteer operation. I do not rule out however the possibility he genuinely is just a single extremely obsessed right wing fanatic.”
Craig Murray (21 May 2018) [7]
Cross’ edits in relation to the above parties are generally disparaging, however, the quantity and frequency of the edits suggest that "Philip Cross" may be a pseudonym for a group of like-minded individuals acting in concert.[8]
Edits
Craig Murray, whose Wikipedia page has been repeated edited by Cross remarked that "the purpose of the “Philip Cross” operation is systematically to attack and undermine the reputations of those who are prominent in challenging the dominant corporate and state media narrative. particularly in foreign affairs. “Philip Cross” also systematically seeks to burnish the reputations of corporate media journalists and other figures who are particularly prominent in pushing neo-con propaganda and in promoting the interests of Israel."[9] Edit references are provided below:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Craig_Murray&action=history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Pilger&offset=20170512174605&action=history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Media_Lens&action=history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Galloway&offset=20180114204444&action=history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gilad_Atzmon&action=history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tim_Hayward_(academic)&action=history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Piers_Robinson&action=history
In January 2019 Cross edited the article on 9/11 Citizens Watch before it was removed as being "not notable".[10]
On 3 August 2019, a week before his sudden death, "Philip Cross" edited Jeffrey Epstein's Wikipedia page.[11]
Craig Murray notes that although the "Philip Cross" Twitter account has only about 200 or so followers (as opposed to the 40,000+ that he has, there are nevertheless more prominent figures such as James LeMesurier or Tristram Hunt. In particular, he notes a large number of editors of corporate newspapers, including: Oliver Kamm (Leader Writer The Times), Nick Cohen (Columnist The Guardian/Observer), Joan Smith, Columnist The Independent), Leslie Felperin (Film Columnist The Guardian), Kate Connolly (Foreign Correspondent The Guardian/Observer), Lisa O'Carroll (Brexit Correspondent The Guardian), James Bloodworth (Columnist The Independent), Cristina Criddle (BBC Radio 4 Today Programme), Sarah Baxter (Deputy Editor The Sunday Times), Iain Watson (BBC Political Correspondent), Caroline Wheeler (Deputy Political Editor the Sunday Times), Jennifer Chevalier (CBC ex-BBC) and Dani Garavelli (Scotland on Sunday)[12]
Other interesting followers: John Connell @JConnell35; Mark Wilcox (New Zealand BitCoin strategist) @mwilcox ; Achim Ahrens (Swiss economist) @acahrens ; Nina Pullman (freelance Guardian journalist) @nina_pullman; John Rogan (Washington Post, Medium) @JRogan3000.[13] [14]
Corporate Media
On 24 May 2018, Craig Murray tweeted:
- Israeli newspaper Haaretz publishes lengthy defence of what they call "pro-Israel" Philip Cross. Strangely the author (Omer Benjakob) forgets to mention he is one of the inexplicable army of CCM hacks who were "Philip Cross" twitter followers.[15][16]
James Le Mesurier
Within hours of the death of James Le Mesurier on November 11, editors created a Wikipedia page for him. Philip Cross contributed dozens of edits to it.[17] On December 2, he cited a member of the Integrity Initiative, Ben Nimmo in a subsection entitled "Russian and Syrian disinformation campaign".[18]
The Great Reset
Neil Clark observes that the Wikipedia page of The Great Reset is being edited Philip Cross, who tries through his edits to portray those who oppose it as conspiracy theorists.[19]
Suspension
The Philip Cross account on Wikipedia was blocked for one year on 30 October 2022 as an arbitration action for breaching its ban from British politics.[20] The block seems to relate to a 2018 ban over PC's edits to the George Galloway WP page.[21]
Related Documents
Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Document:Bloggers Under Siege - Craig Murray Charged with Contempt of Court | blog post | 27 April 2020 | Ludwig De Braeckeleer | From Lockerbie to the Russia Hoax, Craig Murray has of course upset people in high-places, including some who work for Intelligence Agencies. |
Document:Narrative Managers In Overdrive After Death Of White Helmets Founder | blog post | 12 November 2019 | Caitlin Johnstone | There is an immense narrative management campaign dedicated to controlling what people think about what’s happening in Syria. Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. Official Narrative control comes before any other priority the empire might have: before resources, before land, before even war itself. It’s up to us to see through their lies and bring an end to the lie factory. |
Document:Wikipedia & the Spooks – The Remake | blog post | 22 May 2018 | Ludwig De Braeckeleer | In a video interview with George Galloway, journalist Neil Clark explains that "SlimVirgin" is back and teaming up with "Philip Cross". That is subtle or what? |
References
- ↑ "Wikipedia edits by 'Philip Cross'"
- ↑ http://ahealedplanet.net/wikiprop.htm
- ↑ "Philip Cross mystery: Craig Murray asks if Wikipedia editor is network ‘demeaning alternative media’"
- ↑ https://xtools.wmflabs.org/ec/en.wikipedia.org/Philip%20Cross
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions/Philip_Cross&target=Philip+Cross
- ↑ "Wikipedia Administrators' Noticeboard: Philip Cross"
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/05/the-philip-cross-msm-promotion-operation-part-3/ Craig Murray's Blog
- ↑ "Wikipedia disappears article on 'Philip Cross' & life-bans author"
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/05/the-philip-cross-affair/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=9/11_Citizens_Watch&action=history
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jeffrey_Epstein&action=history
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/05/the-philip-cross-msm-promotion-operation-part-3/
- ↑ https://archive.is/muDFl
- ↑ https://archive.is/SdRi4
- ↑ "Israeli newspaper Haaretz publishes lengthy defence of what they call 'pro-Israel' Philip Cross"
- ↑ "Why Are Russia, WikiLeaks and the British Far Left Out to Get This 'pro-Israel' Wikipedia Editor?"
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20191115102746/https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/le-mesurier-gets-crossd
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Le_Mesurier&type=revision&diff=928916695&oldid=928916119
- ↑ http://archive.today/2020.12.18-213458/https://twitter.com/NeilClark66/status/1338611807959781376
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Philip_Cross&oldid=1122401204
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/BLP_issues_on_British_politics_articles#Involved_parties