Proposed policies related to the use of banners and logo changes to advocate on external topics

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Legal department has published draft proposals for policies related to the use of banners and logo changes for advocacy purposes. The policy proposals are informed by research conducted earlier this year in collaboration with Wikimedia communities, collecting examples of past decisions to run banners or change logos in response to external topics. The draft policies aim to avoid interfering as much as possible with the most common uses of banners and logo changes, address some edge cases, and create more standardized processes for reviewing, approving, and implementing proposed actions.

What is being proposed

There are three places where we are proposing policy changes: the creation of a new policy on the use of Wikimedia sites for advocacy purposes, an addition to the CentralNotice usage guidelines, and a revision to the process for requesting wiki configuration changes.

The biggest proposal is to create a new policy covering the use of Wikimedia sites for advocacy purposes. The new policy is not about Wikipedia articles or other project content—those are governed by editorial policies such as ones on neutral point of view. Rather, this new policy addresses the spaces around project content, including project logos, banners at the top of the page, and site blackouts. More specifically, it addresses decisions to take actions such as displaying a banner or changing a project logo whose purpose is advocacy on an external topic. That can mean actions that count as public policy advocacy, such as raising awareness about a proposed law that could harm Wikipedia, but it is not limited to those scenarios. Encouraging readers to donate blood or promoting a non-Wikimedia event would be other examples of advocacy on an external topic.

The proposed policy describes the processes that communities should use to implement proposed actions once they have consensus to act, with different processes for banners, logos, and blackouts. The policy would create duration restrictions on actions: 31 days for banners (which can be extended), 7 days for logos (with some exceptions), and 24 hours for blackouts. The policy would also require that advocacy banners on external topics use CentralNotice, and that communities notify the Foundation’s Global Advocacy team of any actions they plan to take.

The proposed addition to the CentralNotice usage guidelines provides more detail about the process for community and staff review of proposed advocacy banners on external topics. The proposed revision to the process for requesting wiki configuration changes adds the 7 day duration limit, and instructs requestors to notify Foundation staff of their request.

What you can do

We have published the policy proposals as drafts to allow Wikimedians to review them, ask questions, make suggestions, and raise concerns. We have also identified some aspects of the proposals where we think community input would be most helpful. You can read the drafts on Meta-Wiki, and provide feedback on the Talk page. You can also email me with feedback at croslof@wikimedia.org. We are asking for all feedback to be submitted by October 9.