What if there was a way to help policymakers to make better proposals about the internet? A tool to encourage regulations that support online communities’ ability to express themselves? To enable the human spirit behind meme machines, community forums, fan fiction threads, and Wikipedia rabbit holes?
That’s the idea behind the Wikipedia Test: A call to action and policy advocacy tool to help regulators consider how new laws might negatively affect online spaces, tools, and resources developed in the public interest.
How does the Wikipedia Test work?
In a nutshell, the Wikipedia Test is a reminder: When regulation fails to account for the various kinds of websites and services that exist online, those laws can unintentionally harm the internet spaces that offer an alternative to the commercial web.
The tool itself walks you through a series of prompts that raise key questions about a proposal’s impacts. The prompts are designed to highlight how a bill might impact essential values like:
- Privacy and safety
- Freedom of expression
- Access to knowledge
- Community-led governance and moderation
- Information integrity
It’s not a pass-fail assessment: it is an invitation to think critically, spot red flags early, ask better questions, and to reach out to others who are also concerned about making sure that the internet is the best that it can be.
And just like everything in the Wikimedia ecosystem, the Wikipedia Test is free to access and can be shared openly. You can find the content of the Wikipedia Test on the Wikimedia Foundation’s website, and all design assets on Wikimedia Commons for you to use.
Why do we need the Wikipedia Test?
Wikipedia suffers from what we call the “dolphin caught in the net” dilemma. Lawmakers around the world continue to introduce regulations that are meant to hold powerful, for-profit platforms accountable for the harms they cause. This kind of regulatory action is important. But too often, those lawmakers forget that the internet also contains websites that exist to inform or empower the public, or ones that don’t follow a centralized structure. Like a dolphin in a fishing net, when regulators develop such legislation with only big for-profit platforms in mind, Wikipedia can mistakenly end up at risk.
This dilemma is not unique to Wikipedia. Wikipedia happens to be one of the clearest examples of what we call the “public interest internet”: online spaces that are open, privacy-respecting, and enable people around the world to share knowledge that can advance education, development, and civic participation. If a policy threatens Wikipedia, it often signals harm to other public interest platforms too—from citizen journalism websites like Global Voices to civic tech projects like FixMyStreet or open data repositories used in climate science and public health.
Advocates, policymakers and regulators alike need to be able to identify in advance what can be problematic about legislative proposals. The Wikipedia Test provides the language needed to bring attention to outstanding issues and prevent them before a law is passed. The goal isn’t just to block bad laws. The Wikipedia Test is a tool to promote the future internet we want to see: one where “everyone has easy access to a multilingual digital commons supported by a thriving public domain and freely licensed content.”
By using the Wikipedia Test to determine whether a proposal aligns with this future—or undermines it—we can support online spaces where diverse communities can build and govern knowledge-sharing platforms in their own languages and cultural contexts to the benefit of everyone, everywhere.
Learn how to use the Wikipedia Test
This tool is designed to drive collective impact. Whoever you are, if you care about free and open access to reliable information, we would appreciate your support and feedback. This means:
- If you are a Wikimedia community member, help us explain the importance of the public interest internet to policymakers in your country or region with the Wikipedia Test.
- If you are a policy advocate, try incorporating the Wikipedia Test into your work.
- If you are a regulator or lawmaker, use the Wikipedia Test to ensure that policies aimed at large tech platforms do not inadvertently harm projects that serve the public good.
Join our upcoming webinars to learn how to apply the Wikipedia Test to real-life case studies to better inform policymaking and advocacy tactics:
July 23rd @ 14:00 UTC (check your local time)
Link to register: https://wikimedia.zoom.us/meeting/register/vatkUp33RQCuuYOW-QEgdw
July 29th @ 3:00 UTC (check your local time)
Link to register: https://wikimedia.zoom.us/meeting/register/UX4Wp9gZR02cCyBMfgbb0w
Let’s work together to make sure the internet stays a space where knowledge can be built and shared by everyone, everywhere.
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation