Wikipedia is losing human readers and TikTok might be to blame

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Looks like Wikipedia is having a bit of an existential crisis. Human pageviews have plummeted 8% year-over-year, and honestly? We’re not entirely shocked.

According to Marshal Miller of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia’s recent bot-detection upgrade revealed that a chunk of its previously impressive traffic numbers were actually sneaky bots playing dress-up as humans. Classic internet move, right?

But the real kicker isn’t the fake traffic—it’s that actual humans are genuinely visiting less. The culprits? Your friendly neighborhood AI overlords and Gen Z’s TikTok addiction.

Google’s AI-powered search results are now spoon-feeding answers directly, eliminating the need to actually click on Wikipedia links.

Meanwhile, younger users are getting their “facts” from 30-second videos instead of, you know, actual researched articles with citations.

This trend is genuinely concerning for Wikipedia’s survival. Fewer clicks mean fewer volunteers contributing content and fewer donations rolling in.

The Wikimedia Foundation is scrambling, developing new content attribution frameworks and begging AI companies to actually send traffic back to the source material.

Here’s what you can do:

Actually click through to sources when researching online, look for proper citations, and maybe—just maybe—consider that a 30-second TikTok isn’t equivalent to peer-reviewed knowledge.

Wikipedia isn’t perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot more reliable than whatever influencer is explaining quantum physics between dance trends.

The internet’s collective brain is at stake here, people. Act accordingly.

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com.