KEY POINTS:
A left-wing German politician has filed charges against online encyclopaedia Wikipedia for promoting the use of banned Nazi symbols in Germany.
Katina Schubert, a deputy leader of the Left party, filed the charge with Berlin police on the grounds that Wikipedia's German language site contained too much Nazi symbolism, particularly an article on the Hitler Youth.
"The extent and frequency of the symbols on it goes beyond what is needed for documentation and political education, in my view," she said.
"We don't really know what Ms Schubert's problem is," Arne Klempert, managing director of Wikipedia promoter Wikimedia Deutschland, said. "What's important is the context the symbols are used in, and here it's quite clearly education and documentation."
He said Wikipedia's structure, which lets users edit content, ensured no bias arose. "Particularly on subjects like the Hitler Youth, you can be sure it would be changed in seconds if it did."
- Reuters
