Wikipedia launches legal challenge over OSA category 1 designation
08/05/2025 | The Guardian
The Wikimedia Foundation, the charity responsible for hosting Wikipedia, is launching a legal challenge against the UK Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) in the High Court in London. The foundation argues that certain regulations within the OSA could render the site vulnerable to "manipulation and vandalism." It claims that being classified under the act's most stringent category 1 duties, which apply additional obligations to the largest online platforms and applications, that if these duties are imposed on Wikipedia, the safety and privacy of its extensive network of volunteer editors would be compromised, the site's content could be manipulated and vandalised, and resources would be redirected away from the crucial tasks of protecting and enhancing the platform.
The foundation clarified that its challenge is not against the OSA in its entirety, or the existence of its requirements, but specifically against the rules that determine the designation of a category 1 platform.
The designation of such categories was established in secondary legislation by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle.
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