ADVERTISEMENT The UK High Court of London has dismissed a legal challenge brought by the Wikimedia Foundation – the non-profit organization which operates online encyclopaedia Wikipedia – to the country’s Online Safety Act.
The UK’s Online Safety Act, which was rolled out this year, imposes strict new requirements on online platforms and has been criticised for its potential to restrict freedom of expression.
The Wikimedia Foundation had filed a lawsuit in the High Court of London against regulations under the Act, arguing that they could impose the strictest obligations on Wikipedia. They brought the challenge under the assumption that it would be labeled as a “Category 1” platform, which it argues “would undermine the privacy and safety of Wikipedia’s volunteer contributors, expose the encyclopedia to manipulation and vandalism, and divert essential resources from protecting people and improving Wikipedia.”
According to the foundation, if Wikipedia were subject to the so-called ‘Category 1’ obligations, it could threaten the rights, privacy and safety of its volunteer editors. The foundation argues that their model, in which anyone can contribute without registering personal details, is key to the platform’s breadth of coverage.
Indeed, user verification – one of requirements for Category 1 platforms – “could expose contributors to data breaches, stalking, lawsuits, or even imprisonment by authoritarian regimes,” Wikimedia Foundation said in a statement.
Judge Jeremy Johnson rejected the Wikimedia Foundation’s request on Monday, while specifying that the foundation could bring another legal challenge if the regulator Ofcom “wrongly concluded that Wikipedia falls under Category 1.”
You can read the ruling here.
Judge Johnson added that despite the rejection, the ruling “does not give Ofcom and the Secretary of State a green light to implement a regime that would significantly impede Wikipedia’s operations.”
Still, the government told the BBC it welcomed the High Court’s judgment, “which will help us continue our work implementing the Online Safety Act to create a safer online world for everyone”.
Free speech advocates and content creators have denounced the overly broad application of the Online Safety Act, while the British government claims that the law aims to protect children and remove illegal content.
