We champion everyone’s right to free knowledge online.
We protect users’ privacy and speech. We educate governments and policymakers about the importance of the free and open internet. Regardless of location or circumstance, everyone has the right to seek and share knowledge.
Protecting the right to speak and learn freely
We advocate for public policy that opens access to free knowledge. We oppose government-imposed censorship and overzealous copyright laws, and we defend people’s right to share knowledge globally.
Defending free expression
Governments and individuals often ask us to remove or change project content or share information about our users. We push back when these requests could harm users’ rights. We tell you about these requests in our Transparency Report.
Standing up for our users
We help contributors respond to legal and policy threats relating to their work on Wikimedia projects. For example, we are suing the United States National Security Agency, challenging their mass surveillance of Wikimedia readers and contributors. In 2022, we advocated for changes to Chile’s draft bill on digital platform regulation.
Supporting the Wikimedia movement and other partners
Volunteer contributors take the lead on setting and enforcing content rules. Our sponsorships and research initiatives support the Wikimedia movement, civil society, and academic partners working to maintain a policy and legal environment that protects community-run free knowledge projects.
Speaking up for free knowledge and access to an open internet
We stand for the right of everyone, everywhere to participate in free knowledge. In early 2022, when sanctions were imposed against the Russian government for invading Ukraine, we worked with our partners to make sure the Russian people could continue to access the open internet.
Fighting legal battles to make free knowledge possible
Access to knowledge around the world is under constant attack. At Wikimedia, we work to give access to knowledge to everyone, for free, forever. We go to court to fight against censorship and promote open licenses to ensure our materials can be used and revised globally.
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Wikimedia Foundation blocked once again by China for accreditation to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
14 March 2023, San Francisco, CA, USA – Yesterday, the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, was rejected for accreditation to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). The accreditation was once again blocked by China, marking the fourth time that China has….
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Wikimedia Foundation’s Challenge to NSA Mass Surveillance
WASHINGTON, February 21, 2023 — The U.S. Supreme Court today denied the Wikimedia Foundation’s petition for review of its legal challenge to the National Security Agency’s (NSA) “Upstream” surveillance program. Under this program, the NSA systematically searches the contents of internet traffic entering and leaving the United States, including Americans’ private emails, messages, and web….
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Photo credits
Jason Krüger for Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
Wikimedia Mexico, ISLA, NatalyPop, and the Wikimedia Foundation
