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| UK readers may lose access to Wikipedia amid online safety bill requirements | UK readers may lose access to Wikipedia amid online safety bill requirements |
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| Wikimedia Foundation may not be able to comply with mandatory age checks, UK chief executive says | Wikimedia Foundation may not be able to comply with mandatory age checks, UK chief executive says |
| Wikipedia could be made inaccessible to UK readers after the charity that runs the website warned it will not comply with aspects of the online safety bill. | Wikipedia could be made inaccessible to UK readers after the charity that runs the website warned it will not comply with aspects of the online safety bill. |
| Lucy Crompton-Reid, the chief executive of Wikimedia UK, warned it was “definitely possible” that the popular site could be blocked because of the legislation. | Lucy Crompton-Reid, the chief executive of Wikimedia UK, warned it was “definitely possible” that the popular site could be blocked because of the legislation. |
| Crompton-Reid told the BBC it was “definitely possible that one of the most visited websites in the world – and a vital source of freely accessible knowledge and information for millions of people – won’t be accessible to UK readers (let alone UK-based contributors)”. | Crompton-Reid told the BBC it was “definitely possible that one of the most visited websites in the world – and a vital source of freely accessible knowledge and information for millions of people – won’t be accessible to UK readers (let alone UK-based contributors)”. |
| The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the Wikipedia site, has said it will not carry out age checks on users, which it fears will be required by the act. The foundation also believes the bill’s content moderation requirements will not be enforceable. | The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the Wikipedia site, has said it will not carry out age checks on users, which it fears will be required by the act. The foundation also believes the bill’s content moderation requirements will not be enforceable. |
| Crompton-Reid said some content on the site could trigger age verification measures under the terms of the bill. | Crompton-Reid said some content on the site could trigger age verification measures under the terms of the bill. |
| “For example, educational text and images about sexuality could be misinterpreted as pornography,” she said. | “For example, educational text and images about sexuality could be misinterpreted as pornography,” she said. |
| The online safety bill requires commercial pornography sites to carry out age checks. It will also require sites such as Wikipedia to proactively prevent children from encountering pornographic material, with the bill in its current form referring to age verification as one of the possible tools for this. However, there is also a question mark over whether any of wikipedia’s content would meet the definition of pornographic material in the bill. | The online safety bill requires commercial pornography sites to carry out age checks. It will also require sites such as Wikipedia to proactively prevent children from encountering pornographic material, with the bill in its current form referring to age verification as one of the possible tools for this. However, there is also a question mark over whether any of wikipedia’s content would meet the definition of pornographic material in the bill. |
| Punishments for breaching the act include fines representing up to 10% of global turnover and, in extreme cases, access to a service being blocked in the UK. | Punishments for breaching the act include fines representing up to 10% of global turnover and, in extreme cases, access to a service being blocked in the UK. |
| Crompton-Reid added that there were more than 6.6m articles on Wikipedia and it was “impossible to imagine” how the site would cope with moderating content to comply with the bill. | Crompton-Reid added that there were more than 6.6m articles on Wikipedia and it was “impossible to imagine” how the site would cope with moderating content to comply with the bill. |
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| “Worldwide there are two edits per second across Wikipedia’s 300-plus languages,” she said. | “Worldwide there are two edits per second across Wikipedia’s 300-plus languages,” she said. |
| A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “The world-leading online safety bill has been designed to strike the balance between tackling harm without imposing unnecessary burdens on low-risk tech companies. Ofcom will take a reasonable and proportionate approach when monitoring and enforcing the safety duties outlined in bill, focusing on services where the risk of harm is highest.” |