The battle for truth has moved to the edit logs of Wikipedia. Portland Communications, a high-profile PR firm founded by a former aide to Keir Starmer, stands accused of orchestrating a covert campaign to scrub negative information from the pages of its wealthy clients.

An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) uncovered a network of "black hat" editors—paid operatives who violate Wikipedia’s neutrality rules—allegedly working on Portland’s behalf. The target? To sanitize the reputations of entities like the Qatari government and a failed billion-dollar philanthropy project.

"Wikilaundering" the Truth

The practice, dubbed "Wikilaundering," involves burying critical reporting and highlighting favorable PR fluff.

• The Mechanism: Portland reportedly outsourced the dirty work to a third party, Web3 Consulting, to maintain plausible deniability.
• The Impact: For the millions who rely on Wikipedia as a first point of reference, this manipulation distorts history and shields powerful actors from accountability.

The Defense

Portland has denied any direct relationship with the "black hat" firm, calling the allegations outdated. "If anyone did this in the past, they were foolish," an employee stated. Yet, the scandal exposes the dark underbelly of reputation management, where the line between public relations and disinformation is increasingly blurred.