Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Elon Musk has once again made a statement that has shocked the internet. The billionaire said he would give US$ 1 billion or around Rp. 15.9 trillion to the user-generated online enskilopedia ‘Wikipedia’.

However, Musk didn’t give it away for free. The condition is that Wikipedia must change the name of its platform to ‘dirty’.

“I will give them [Wikipedia] “US$ 1 billion if we change the name to D*ckipedia,” he said on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account.

The tweet was then replied to by journalist Ed Krassenstein. He pushed Wikipedia to change the name of the platform, got Musk’s money, then changed it back to the way it was.

“Do it! You guys [Wikipedia] can replace it after receiving the money,” said Krassenstein.

Musk then replied that he couldn’t be tricked like that. “At least one year [ganti nama]. I’m not a fool,” he responded.

Musk’s offer stems from his criticism of the Wikimedia Foundation, the institution that operates Wikipedia. According to Musk, the Wikimedia Foundation is asking for too much money.

The reason is, Wikipedia’s business model is based on donations from its users. The donations are used to curate content and translate it into many languages, so that information can be accessed by everyone.

Musk’s criticism, which was uploaded to his X account, was then responded to by Community Notes from Wikipedia. It is explained that Wikipedia collects 25 billion views and edits 44 million pages every month.

For this reason, the institution needs operational funds. Wikipedia does not want to sell its services to investors, or include advertisements. They still maintain a donation-based business.

This is not the first time Musk and Wikipedia have had an argument. Previously, in May, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales criticized Musk for limiting a number of content on X ahead of the presidential election in Turkey.

According to a Business Insider report, X at that time was more in favor of the government’s interests in carrying out censorship under Musk’s leadership.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(fab/fab)