Frequently Asked Questions About Our Legal Work

When governments request information about Wikipedia contributors, or seek to limit the sharing of online knowledge, people naturally have concerns about what that means for the integrity of information on the projects, as well as the privacy of Wikipedia readers and editors. With the release of the Wikimedia Foundation’s latest Transparency Report, we want to address these important questions and explain how we respond to government requests, what protections are in place, and how our commitment to free knowledge shapes every decision.

What happens when a government agency asks the Wikimedia Foundation for information about readers and editors?

Freedom of speech and protecting user identity are central to the Wikimedia Foundation and the broader Wikimedia movement, so every request for user data—whether from governments, corporations, or individuals—is handled with careful scrutiny. Usually, the Foundation has very little nonpublic information to provide, since we deliberately collect and retain minimal user data. 

When a request does involve data the Foundation holds, each case is reviewed individually. Data is only disclosed if the request is legally valid, specific, and relevant, and we push back against requests that are vague, overbroad, or unjustified. We maintain a guidelines and procedures page for the people who send us data requests, to deter overly broad requests and provide clarity to our users about what protections for user data are in place. We have just updated these guidelines, in line with the information described below about our current analysis of applicable law. Whenever possible, affected users are notified before any information is released, and in some circumstances, the Foundation may help the user contest an improper request.

We also take additional measures to help protect volunteers from surveillance. We avoid third-party tracking, limit data retention periods, and support pseudonymous participation, ensuring that volunteers can contribute without revealing their personal identities. Additionally, we seek to educate and support volunteers on digital safety, offer tools to address harassment or threats, and have challenged mass surveillance in court. All of this helps to defend the rights of our global contributor community.

What about when a government asks the Wikimedia Foundation to alter or remove content on the projects?

Whenever the Foundation receives a request for content takedown, we carefully review each one and push back against improper requests that could undermine users’ rights or their role in shaping knowledge on Wikimedia projects. For the small number of valid legal requests we are required to act on, we inform the community when action is taken. 

The Foundation publishes a Transparency Report every six months, which includes information about all alteration and takedown requests we receive. This includes requests from both government agencies and private parties, including breakdowns about which countries these requests came from and which projects were impacted by them.

The Foundation is committed to protecting users’ human rights, as outlined in our Human Rights Policy adopted in December 2021, recognizing that censorship, surveillance, or the removal of accurate content endangers access to free knowledge.

Which countries’ laws apply to the Wikimedia projects? 

The Wikimedia projects operate globally: we have users all around the world, and a global mission. That means that we do regularly receive legal inquiries and threats from a variety of countries, including some where we have little to no legal presence (such as staff or servers).

That said, the Wikimedia projects are operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, which is a United States-formed nonprofit organization. A large percentage of our traffic comes from readers in the United States, and the Wikimedia projects include articles about the United States and its citizens. For that reason, United States law is applicable to the Wikimedia projects, and would be applicable in many circumstances regardless of where the Wikimedia Foundation was headquartered. This is also true of many U.S. states’ laws.

When we receive court orders that we need to comply with, we do so in cooperation with the local volunteer communities whenever legally possible. We also strive for transparency, such as by sharing any relevant documents that can be made public. In circumstances where the proceedings or documents are confidential, we aim to share public summaries, and share more information confidentially with relevant users under a non-disclosure agreement.

Every year, new laws regulating the internet get passed in a variety of countries, and many of these laws have effects that reach beyond any one nation’s borders. The Wikimedia Foundation’s legal team is constantly monitoring legislative changes, in order to ensure that we can effectively defend the projects and the people who make them possible around the world. 

Can I personally get sued for what I write on Wikipedia?

Lawsuits against Wikimedia users are exceedingly uncommon—most disputes about content are resolved by working with the user community through community-driven processes. In the unlikely event that you are the subject of a lawsuit, it is highly recommended that you consult your own lawyer. In the U.S., there are a number of organizations that will fight on a user’s behalf, like the California Anti-SLAPP Project or the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Volunteers globally who need help finding an attorney can contact the Wikimedia Foundation, and we can help you contact some of these organizations or secure an attorney at reduced or pro-bono rates. Assistance may also be available under our Legal Fees Assistance Program or Defense of Contributors Program. (For professional ethics reasons, the Wikimedia Foundation’s attorneys cannot represent Wikimedia project volunteers, but we can help you find an attorney elsewhere.)

But does the Foundation’s strategy for defending users actually work?

Yes! We’re proud to offer a consistently strong defense against legal demands for user data and content takedown. The numbers in the Transparency Report speak for themselves: we grant a very small percentage of the requests we receive. Even when we can’t say no to a request, we are often able to narrow the scope, in order to protect the privacy of our users and integrity of our projects as much as possible. Our report also features comparison data from some other tech companies, highlighting how frequently we fight back on requests compared to other platforms.

Our commitment to defending our users reaches across the world. Each case might differ in the countries involved, the facts at issue, the laws that apply, and which defenses we have. What stays the same, however, is our commitment to ensuring that the Wikimedia projects remain high-quality resources that defend the privacy of our contributors and readers.

The Wikimedia Foundation’s latest Transparency Report, covering requests we received in January-June 2025, is available now.