What Just Happened to the Market? Wikipedia Is Still Deciding.
+ The McNally Jackson Book Festival on May 9
Following President Trump’s announcement of global tariffs during his April 2 “Liberation Day” speech, stock markets around the world plunged sharply. The S&P 500 suffered its most significant one-day drop since the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,500 points on back-to-back days, marking the steepest decline in its 127-year history. Then on Wednesday, Trump partially backtracked, pausing certain tariffs for 90 days (with the notable exception of China), and the Dow posted its best one-day jump since 2020. But it's not a total rebound. At the time of reporting, both U.S. and global markets remain significantly down since “Liberation Day,” with investors grappling with the uncertainty of a U.S.-China trade war and its potential damage to the world economy.
Amidst the economic upheaval, Wikipedia’s volunteer editors have been diligently chronicling the turbulence on the open-access encyclopedia. Currently, the main Wikipedia entry is titled “2025 stock market crash,” however there is a prominent note at the top of the page pointing to an ongoing debate about whether the title should be changed to “2025 stock market decline.” The back-and-forth about calling it a crash versus a decline is taking place on the article’s talk page, a forum for editors to deliberate potential edits. So far, the discussion has mostly been a healthy disagreement about how to properly apply Wikipedia’s policies, like using reliable sources and writing from a neutral point of view. This discussion is not nearly as contentious as previous naming disputes such as “Taiwan” vs. “Republic of China,” or whether to call January 6 an “insurrection” or an “attack.” But the crash vs. decline debate reveals some cracks beneath the surface: editors have starkly different views of what Wikipedia is and how it best serves readers.
Continue reading my latest story for Slate—out today.
Upcoming Event
If you’re in New York, I would love to see you at this event on May 9.
MAY 9 | 6:30pm at McNally Jackson Seaport
The Depths of Wikipedia
feat. Annie Rauwerda, Michael Mandiberg, and Stephen Harrison
RSVP
Join Annie Rauwerda, Michael Mandiberg, and Stephen Harrison as they discuss the challenges and opportunities for Wikipedia, a.k.a. "The Last Best Place on the Internet." The conversation will explore Wikipedia's role as an open-source archive, address questions of bias and reliability, examine the relationship between editors and the Wikimedia Foundation, and discuss the politics of "notability."
Annie Rauwerda is a Wikipedia editor and enthusiast in New York City. She posts unusual Wikipedia articles on social media on accounts called "Depths of Wikipedia" and is writing a book about the behind-the-scenes drama and delight of creating the world's largest and most accessible information source. It will be published by Little, Brown in 2026.
Michael Mandiberg is an interdisciplinary artist who created Print Wikipedia, edited The Social Media Reader (NYU Press), and co-founded Art+Feminism. Their work has been exhibited at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, amongst others. Mandiberg is Professor of Media Culture at the College of Staten Island, CUNY and Doctoral Faculty at The Graduate Center, CUNY.
Stephen Harrison has covered Wikipedia as a freelance journalist for the New York Times, The Guardian, WIRED, and Slate. Known as the leading reporter on the Wikipedia beat, he is also a tech lawyer and the author of The Editors, a novel inspired by Wikipedia and its volunteer contributors.