Metoo Movement on Wikipedia

On October 29, 2018, New York Times published an article titled “#MeToo Brought Down 201 Powerful Men”. The year after Harvey Weinstein’s exposure of sexual crimes saw the change in leadership position in fields from entertainment to business, from politics to academia. But how are people reacting to these changes? How does public perception of these personalities change? How does the internet play a role in this movement?

Previous research has explored the expression of opinions on Twitter and Reddit, which are platforms that reflect the more instant and spontaneous reactions of the online community. The content on the these social media platforms present a snapshot of public sentiment during the #MeToo Movement. But how about the lasting influence of #MeToo? How would people remember the events and personalities engaged in the #MeToo movement in the long run? How would people’s instant reaction shape public memory?

While #MeToo's representation in online spaces such as Twitter and Google Search (animated google trend below) has been much studied, Wikipedia, as an open source platform for individuals to contribute to the creation of public memory, provides an opportunity to explore the attitude and motivations of the online community to respond to #MeToo from a different perspective. Rather than learning or expressing, people use Wikipedia to preserve a certain public memory. Using the edit history of Wikipedia, this research shows that landmark events in the #MeToo movement attracted public attention and changed the public perspectives of high power individuals with sexual misconduct records. These changes are subsequently reflected in the online discourse about these individuals.