Self-editing spree gets GOP congressman banned by Wikipedia: report

Freshman Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) was booted off Wikipedia after violating guidelines by repeatedly editing the site's article about himself, reported The Daily Beast on Wednesday.

"The longtime GOP operative was a prolific editor of his own Wikipedia content. Lawler made 26 changes in total — which earned him a warning from site administrators that he was violating policy by editing his own content, and then an outright ban when Lawler did not heed the warning," reported Ursula Perano. "A spokesperson for Lawler did not respond to multiple requests for comment or to confirm the account personally belonged to Lawler."

However, per the report, the name of the acccount, MichaelVLawler, matches the personal username Lawler has on Facebook and the one he used to use on Twitter.

Among other things, Lawler added himself as a notable alumnus of Manhattan College, wrote that he “serves as the Ranker of the Government Operations Committee and as a member of the Aging, Banks, Education, and Housing Committees,” and updated his name from “Mike Lawler” to “Michael V. Lawler” on one section.

Lawler was elected in 2022 in an upset, defeating Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who served as the chair of the Democrats' congressional fundraising arm — one of many casualties in New York, where Democrats suffered some of their heaviest losses of the cycle. It is unusual for members of congressional leadership to lose re-election; the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee poured large amounts of money into the race as it became clear their chairman was in danger of an embarrassing defeat.

All of this comes as the GOP also faces scrutiny over Rep. George Santos, another freshman New York lawmaker who was revealed to have lied about almost every aspect of his life and credentials on the campaign trail, and has been indicted on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges.