Wikipedia Porn Purge Includes Content of Adult Companies

SAN FRANCISCO — The parent company of online encyclopedia Wikipedia is reportedly tossing thousands of explicit images from its websites as it plans on announcing a new policy regarding sexually explicit content.

Included in those images that have been or will be purged include those taken from the sites of adult entertainment companies and from their awards shows, FoxNews.com said.

XBIZ calls to Wikipedia officials to confirm the FoxNews report went unreturned by post time.

According to FoxNews, minors can easily stumble upon sexually explicit photos, including close-ups of genitalia, couples and groups involved sexual intercourse and masturbation.

Wikipedia's move came as FoxNews.com was in the process of asking dozens of companies that have donated to Wikimedia Foundation — the group behind Wikimedia Commons and its Wiki projects, including Wikipedia — if they were aware of the extent of sexually explicit content on the sites.

FoxNews said it contacted donors Google, Microsoft's Bing, Yahoo!, Open Society Institute, Ford Foundation, Best Buy, USA Networks and Craigslist Foundation.

Last week, FoxNews revealed that Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger had sent a letter to the FBI expressing his concerns that Wikimedia was distributing child pornography.

The FBI has not commented on whether it will pursue an investigation.

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