“Don’t Blink”: Protecting the Wikimedia model, its people, and its values in August 2025

Welcome to “Don’t Blink”! Every month we share developments from around the world that shape people’s ability to participate in the free knowledge movement. In case you blinked last month, here are the most important public policy advocacy topics that have kept the Wikimedia Foundation busy.

The Global Advocacy team works to advocate laws and government policies that protect the volunteer community-led Wikimedia model, Wikimedia’s people, and the Wikimedia movement’s core values. To learn more about us and the work we do with the rest of the Foundation: visit our Meta-Wiki webpage; follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Bluesky; and, sign up for our quarterly newsletter or Wikimedia public policy mailing list.

________

Building skills and strengthening networks for impact: Public policy advocacy at Wikimania
[Learn more about public policy advocacy sessions at Wikimania 2025 in our blog post]

The 20th edition of Wikimania took place in Nairobi, Kenya (and online!), in August 2025; it attracted Wikimedians and open knowledge enthusiasts from across the world to celebrate all things Wikimedia. The theme of the conference was “Wikimania@20: Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability,” which is why the program focused on the long-term sustainability of the Wikimedia movement and projects. A vital aspect of this multigenerational goal is making sure that lawmakers consider Wikipedia and the other projects when drafting laws to regulate technology and the internet. Wikimania presented an opportunity for community members interested in public policy advocacy, local allied organizations, and Foundation staff to connect and share strategies, learn new skills, and to have conversations about some of the biggest trends in internet regulation today.

The event program was packed with sessions related to advocacy. At the Day Zero Advocacy Workshop, the Wikimedia network of public policy advocates gathered to sharpen their skills around communicating with lawmakers and media, and to discuss key questions related to artificial intelligence (AI) and the free knowledge ecosystem. At sessions throughout the week, participants learned about opportunities to get involved in digital policy discussions in their countries, how Wikimedians can adapt anti-disinformation trainings to their own local context, and how the Wikimedia movement can support global climate change efforts. Foundation staff led a training on human rights and supported Wikimedia Europe to organize one on child safety; and lawyers from the Legal department discussed our approach to defensive and impact litigation. Civil society organizations like ReCreate, Creative Commons, and the #KeepItOn coalition hosted several sessions as well, sharing information about their models and spotlighting initiatives that are relevant to Wikimedians.

A highlight of this Wikimania was the opportunity for a delegation led by Maryana Iskander (CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation) to meet with William Kabogo Gitau, the Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy of Kenya, and his senior staff. The meeting served to share and discuss the work being done by East African volunteer communities to add local knowledge and language content to the Wikimedia projects as well as explain the Foundation’s approach to AI and machine learning.

Learn more about public policy advocacy at Wikimania 2025 in our blog post.

Sharing Wikimedia’s perspective at the 2025 Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC25)
[Read more about our sessions at DRAPAC25]

In August 2025, digital rights advocates, policy experts, civil society leaders, and technologists gathered at the Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC25) to have discussions on the theme of “collective digital futures: building power, resilience, and imagination.” Held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Human Rights Tech Fair ran concurrently with the Assembly, connecting policymakers with stakeholders from the region to build an inclusive digital rights agenda.

The Foundation, along with Wikimedia Malaysia, attended and participated at four sessions during DRAPAC25 in order to share how policymakers can center the perspective of digital public goods like Wikipedia and protect them from legal and regulatory threats. Topics of discussion during the sessions included: countering disinformation without sacrificing human rights like free expression; strengthening civil society’s engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) key human rights institutions; and digital policy trends like cybersecurity and AI governance. Wikimedians were also invited to participate in closed-door sessions with government representatives and discuss how to ensure future AI policies are not only innovative, but also inclusive and prioritize the public good.

The conversations held at DRAPAC and their outcomes will continue to shape the future of internet governance across the region as the 47th ASEAN Summit, to be held in October 2025, draws closer with Malaysia holding Chairmanship of ASEAN.

Read more about our sessions at DRAPAC25.

Discussing artificial intelligence’s impact on democracy at the AI and Governance in Asia Conference
[Learn more about the AI and Governance in Asia Conference] 

The 10th Annual AI and Governance in Asia Conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand, in August 2025. The event gathered a select group of representatives from governments and platforms, along with academics, lawyers, and journalists, to hold deep conversations about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on civil society, democracy, and media in Asia. 

Rachel Judhistari (Lead Public Policy Specialist for Asia) spoke at the opening plenary to discuss the impact of AI on the Wikimedia projects and how this relates to democracy in the region. Rachel shared how lessons from Wikipedia’s participatory model can serve as a blueprint for more inclusive and democratic AI governance. In the discussion, she emphasized that AI regulations must enable community participation and foster innovation, protecting nonprofit and/or public interest platforms. She also pointed out a need to harmonize the over 17 different AI policies within the region in order to better protect human rights like privacy. 

The conference also featured a fireside chat with Abhisit Vejjajiva, former Prime Minister of Thailand, who suggested that the region adopt its own model of regulation, not simply recreating the models of other regions, and that it do so with an emphasis on promoting local and Indigenous languages.

Learn more about the AI and Governance in Asia Conference.

Sharing success stories from the Wikimedia community’s participation at Open Indonesia
[Read our blog post about the event]

In June 2025, Wikimedia Indonesia, Creative Commons Indonesia, and the Wikimedia Foundation hosted Open Indonesia, a forum to gather community dedicated to advancing open knowledge in Indonesia. Participants across many disciplines joined: journalists, public policy experts, university professors, donors to open knowledge initiatives, and members of free and open-source software communities. The forum allowed attendees to connect and tackle key challenges related to copyright in Indonesia and also to discuss how open knowledge empowers communities and drives positive social change.

A key outcome from the event was the creation of a strategic roadmap for the future of Indonesia’s open knowledge landscape, with plans for collaboration across the various sectors represented at the event. The forum also prompted: plans to organize a digital platform for an open knowledge hub in Indonesia; a dialogue with the national regulator on reliable information and internet access; and plans for a national conference on open knowledge in 2026, which will focus on the topic of open data. These concrete proposals highlight how important gatherings like Open Indonesia are for making connections, strategizing, and creating momentum within local open knowledge movements.

Read our blog post about the event.

Interview with Jan Gerlach, Public Policy Director, in The Shift
[Read the interview (in Portuguese) in The Shift’s newsletter]

Jan Gerlach (Public Policy Director) was recently interviewed by The Shift, a digital issues newsletter based in Brazil that reports on innovative ideas in the technology space. In the interview, Jan spoke about a range of subjects: from Wikipedia’s upcoming 25th birthday to promoting information integrity on the Wikimedia projects. He also shared how AI might impact how new volunteers discover Wikipedia, and why it is important that AI companies attribute information from Wikimedia projects to grow the next generation of free knowledge contributors.

Read the interview (in Portuguese) in The Shift’s newsletter.

Contributing to public consultation on “Free expression and Artificial Intelligence” 
[Read our blog post about the submission]

We recently responded to a public consultation directed to the international Freedom of Expression Mandate Holders—a group of human rights experts from several global and regional organizations who are dedicated to studying and shaping global policy matters related to freedom of expression. The consultation focused on defining the benefits and challenges that AI presents to that fundamental human right.

Our response, which was informed by the AI and machine learning (ML) Human Rights Impact Assessment report that the Foundation will publish soon, shared several key risks to the online information ecosystem we’ve identified: for instance, amplifying societal biases; eroding public trust by making it harder to trace the source of information; and undermining human judgment by interrupting direct engagement with free knowledge creation projects like Wikipedia. We also highlighted several key opportunities presented by AI and ML, pointing to the Foundation’s AI strategy as an example of how these technologies can support the work of human volunteers and users, rather than replace it.

Finally, we shared recommendations on how to focus AI regulation and development, which encompass: protecting human creators and public interest platforms; promoting proportional AI regulations that implement stricter oversight for high-risk AI; supporting open AI and ethical data access; and boosting digital and informational literacy through educational programs. We hope that these recommendations will help the world harness human-centered, open, and responsible AI development while still protecting fundamental human rights, such as freedom of expression, and information integrity online.

Read our blog post about the submission.

________

Follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Bluesky; visit our Meta-Wiki webpage; sign up for our quarterly newsletter to receive updates; and, join our Wikipedia public policy mailing list. We hope to see you there!