A big day for Wikipedia yesterday, considering that it had only two articles posted (normally it has over 20). The site posted an update on how the whole thing went and two big numbers jump out pretty quickly:
– More than 162 million saw the Wikipedia blackout page.
– More than eight million looked up their elected representatives’ contact information via the Wikipedia tool.
Also, a lot of people signed a petition at Google. The Los Angeles Times quotes Google as saying 4.5 million people signed on yesterday to oppose SOPA. Google also says that prior to yesterday, 3 million people had signed various petitions on various sites to oppose the measure, so Google alone topped that by half in one day. Do online petitions actually DO anything? I really, really doubt it, it always seems like an empty gesture to me, but it’s a pretty good metric for measuring engagement on an issue.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
