Risk preparedness in the Foundation’s annual plan

The Wikimedia Foundation is dedicated to protecting and supporting Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, as part of our mission to “empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.” Our annual plan responds to trends we are observing in the world, such as growing attempts around the globe from special interest groups, influencers, and some governments to undermine the credibility of online sources that they may disagree with.

These trends result in renewed efforts to silence sources through vexatious litigation or other kinds of threats. Within the Wikimedia movement, we have seen high profile legal cases in India and the European Union, and threats in the United States. As an organization supporting a top ten global website, this makes the Foundation’s commitment to defending the Wikimedia projects more crucial than ever at this moment. As the Foundation is drafting its next annual plan, we wanted to share more about our philosophy and approach to risk management. 

Our approach is rooted in protecting the Wikimedia projects, their founding principles, and supporting the safety of volunteers who contribute. This ongoing support includes:

• Maintaining our core value of neutrality, including forming a working group to strengthen Wikipedia’s neutral point of view standards across language versions;
• Continuing to publish regular transparency reports as we have done for over a decade, providing publicly available insight into the nature of the legal requests received by the Foundation and how they are handled;
• Maintaining resources for volunteers, including a human rights contact (monitored 24/7 by staff) for users under threat for their contribution to the Wikimedia projects;
• Continuously improving awareness and education about Wikipedia with key audiences, including lawmakers and regulators around the world. This ranges from the policies that underpin our commitment to free knowledge to addressing misunderstandings to ensure that our projects remain trusted, reliable dependable sources of knowledge;
• When necessary, taking legal action as we have done for over two decades to defend the projects, support volunteers, and shape the legal framework that protects our projects and people.

This builds on work over the past two years to increase the Foundation’s general approach to managing risks, including regular scenario and contingency planning with staff who bring  expertise in media relations, finance, technology, law, human rights, safety, and other areas. For example, in 2024, the Foundation created a working group to track disinformation during the biggest election year in the world, and supported volunteer communities in handling issues on the projects. This ranged from reports about how the Wikimedia volunteer communities successfully handled disinformation during a historic year for elections to outreach efforts with other groups committed to information integrity. The outcome: because of the strength of our policies, Wikipedia was able to serve as a reliable source of up-to-date election information in countries across the globe, preventing any major mis- and disinformation on the projects. 

Over the past year, we’ve succeeded in strategic litigation to protect free knowledge and support the volunteers who contribute to it. For example, earlier this year the Foundation won an important legal victory in Germany, setting a precedent that will help protect Wikimedia communities. 

In this challenging environment, it is essential to support the Wikimedia projects, our core values, principles and policies, and the volunteers who work tirelessly to grow the projects. This is in service to the billions of people everywhere who seek access to reliable, neutral information on Wikipedia and beyond. As we’ve outlined in this post, the Foundation’s approach to risk continues into this present moment, as we assess and plan for threats to our content, our model, and our volunteers.

Wikimedians who have additional suggestions for how the Wikimedia Foundation can provide support are invited to contribute to our annual plan. And Wikimedians who may be facing a threat should contact the Foundation legal department.