LONDON — The U.K. High Court dismissed the Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to parts of the country’s Online Safety Act on Monday, but suggested the nonprofit could have grounds for legal action in the future.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, sought a judicial review of the Online Safety Act’s Categorization Regulations in May, arguing the rules risked subjecting Wikipedia to the most stringent “Category 1” duties intended for social media platforms.
The nonprofit was particularly concerned that under the OSA’s “Category 1” duties it would be forced to verify the identity of users — undermining their privacy — or else allow “potentially malicious” users to block unverified users from changing content, leading to vandalism and disinformation going unchecked.
Although not in the Wikimedia Foundation’s favor, the ruling “does not give Ofcom and the Secretary of State [for Science, Innovation and Technology] a green light to implement a regime that would significantly impede Wikipedia’s operations,” the court said.
“While the decision does not provide the immediate legal protections for Wikipedia that we hoped for, the Court’s ruling emphasized the responsibility of Ofcom and the U.K. government to ensure Wikipedia is protected as the OSA is implemented,” said Phil Bradley-Schmieg, lead counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation.
“The Foundation will seek solutions to protect Wikipedia and the rights of its users as the OSA continues to be implemented,” he added.
Ofcom said in June it was closely monitoring the legal challenge and would publish its register of categorized services “as soon as possible thereafter,” having initially planned to do so this summer.
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