The first deep dive in our series on online safety bills. Written by Wikimedia Foundation’s: Rachel Arinii Judhistari (Rjudhistari), Lead Public Policy Specialist for Asia, and Franziska Putz, Movement Advocacy Community Manager. Governments around the world are drafting bills and passing laws to improve online safety and hold technology platforms…

Written by the Wikimedia Foundation’s Jan Gerlach, Director of Public Policy, and Franziska Putz, Movement Advocacy Community Manager. Policymakers in the European Union (EU) have finally completed their negotiations over the Digital Services Act (DSA), a regulation that aims to address the spread of illegal content online. Now they have…

Written by Wikimedia Foundation’s: Rjudhistari, Lead Public Policy Specialist (Asia); Kate Ruane, Lead Public Policy Specialist (USA); and Amalia Toledo, Lead Public Policy Specialist (Latin America & Caribbean). The Wikimedia projects depend on thriving civic spaces online that foster free access and exchange of knowledge. That is why we have…

US bills banning LGBTQ+ and other identity-related topics in schools violate children’s human rights and threaten access to knowledge. Free knowledge projects like Wikipedia can help. Written by Wikimedia Foundation’s Richard Gaines, Senior Human Rights Advocacy Manager. Before the internet, search engines, and Wikipedia, generations of children sought out knowledge…

Forcing all platforms to track their users and automatically remove vaguely defined “harmful content” will not create a safer online environment. — Written by Wikimedia Foundation’s: Tina Butoiu, Legal Counsel, and Franziska Putz, Advocacy Community Manager. The UK Government formally introduced its long-awaited Online Safety Bill on Thursday, March 17, stating the intention that this would bring Internet users ‘one step closer to a safer online environment.’ However, the current draft of…

Written by Wikimedia Foundation’s Amalia Toledo, Lead Public Policy Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean & Franziska Putz, Movement Advocacy Community Manager The Chilean Congress has been considering a bill to regulate digital platforms since September 2021. The bill aims to curb the enormous power large digital platforms have…

Written by Kate Ruane, Lead U.S. Public Policy Specialist, Wikimedia Foundation The EARN IT Act is a counterproductive attempt to address digital safety. It’s intended to protect children from harm, but in reality it will undermine our privacy rights, restrict free expression, and make it harder for community-led platforms like…

An introduction to the series on online safety bills. Written by Wikimedia Foundation’s: Leighanna Mixter, Lead Counsel; Tina Butoiu, Legal Counsel; Franziska Putz, Advocacy Community Manager. Policymakers around the world put fundamental human rights at risk in the name of pushing ill-conceived proposals to address online harms. Of these recent…

The Wikimedia Foundation welcomes the results of an important vote by the European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee on key provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA). With the December 13th vote, European lawmakers have sent a clear signal of their intent to enact internet regulations that protect people’s right to…