Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
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Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#2Wikipedia is still on the Ofcom watchlist and might be designated Category 1 at some point.
Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#3In other words, "stay where you are for now, we promise to extend the legislation to cover you in the future".
Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#4They just know they can't afford the power right now to do it. They would if they thought they could get away with it.
Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#5Governments would rather censor the whole internet before putting people who have credible allegations of sex crimes against children under investigation and in handcuffs when appropriate.
Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#6In other words, "stay where you are for now, we promise to extend the legislation to cover you in the future".
Did you actually read the article. Ofcom used a "novel reading of the law" to exempt Wikipedia.
The law it seems already covers Wikipedia. Ofcom are choosing not to enforce. I interpret the watchlist comments as ofcom setting up a defensible position for themselves.
Yes the law is probably wrong to include Wikipedia, but the enforcers of the law seem to have common sense. Which overall seems to be a win.
Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#7In other words, "stay where you are for now, we promise to extend the legislation to cover you in the future".
Did you actually read the article. Ofcom used a "novel reading of the law" to exempt Wikipedia. The law it seems already covers Wikipedia. Ofcom are choosing not to enforce. I interpret the watchlist comments as ofcom setting up a defensible position for themselves. Yes the law is probably wrong to include Wikipedia, but the enforcers of the law seem to have common sense. Which overall seems to be a win.
Considering wikimedia hosts what most people would consider porn (randomly came across a video of a couple going at it once) without any ability to filter it from the rest of the content/hide by default, it's not that surprising they are covered, I'm more surprised ofcom relented.
Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#8Governments would rather censor the whole internet before putting people who have credible allegations of sex crimes against children under investigation and in handcuffs when appropriate.
It isn't and never has been about the children.
Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#9Wikipedia is still on the Ofcom watchlist and might be designated Category 1 at some point.
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Re: Wikipedia escapes Category 1 designation under the UK Online Safety Act for now
#10The High Court judgment referred to is available at https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Wikimedi...
I'm not sure if Ofcom's subsequent notification to WMF is publicly available anywhere.