LONDON—The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia worldwide and in the United Kingdom's digital space, has lost a legal challenge against the country's strict Online Safety Act (OSA) regulations, which could require it to verify the ages of its users.
AVN mentioned in previous reporting on the Online Safety Act that the Wikimedia Foundation was concerned that it would have to block the entire country.
If Wikimedia U.K. follows through, users would be blocked indefinitely from accessing one of the most popular, open-sourced reference providers in the world.
In a statement released Monday, the High Court of Justice dismissed the foundation's challenge to the service providers' categorization regulations outlined by the Online Safety Act.
"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," the statement reads. "The judge recognized the 'significant value' of Wikipedia, its safety for users, as well as the damages that wrongly-assigned OSA categorisations and duties could have on the human rights of Wikipedia’s volunteer contributors."
Despite the disappointing ruling, Wikimedia nonetheless welcomed the high court's comments regarding concerns that the regulations could significantly harm the operations of Wikipedia in the United Kingdom's digital space.
According to the Online Safety Act, the foundation is classified as a category 1 platform, with duties that would require Wikipedia to verify and then reveal the identities of its users and the volunteer contributors and editors upon whom the reference platform relies. As such, the number of British users who can access Wikipedia will drop.
The court stressed that this ruling “does not give Ofcom and the Secretary of State a green light to implement a regime that would significantly impede Wikipedia’s operations," and indicated that the government and Ofcom could face legal repercussions if they violate the rights of the platform's users.
"The foundation will continue to seek solutions to protect Wikipedia and the rights of its users as the OSA continues to be implemented," Wikimedia added.
