Understand the forces shaping free knowledge: Wikimania 2026 public policy advocacy sessions to join

Wikimania is extra special this year. The Wikimedia movement celebrates an extraordinary milestone: Wikipedia’s 25th birthday. Anniversaries are an opportunity to look ahead. As the internet undergoes profound transformation, an important question emerges for this Wikimania: How do we ensure that free knowledge projects and the communities behind them can continue to thrive for the next 25 years?

Global trends in technology and policy are radically changing the context in which the open knowledge movement operates. It is clear that the next 25 years will require us to adapt. Governments are introducing new rules on online safety, age verification, artificial intelligence (AI), platform accountability, and digital sovereignty. At the same time, generative AI is changing how knowledge is created, discovered, and reused, raising new questions about the sustainability of the commons, the value of human contribution, and the future of trustworthy information online.

This year’s Wikimania programme reflects those challenges. This blog post highlights sessions that provide information, are open discussions, or put in context the core issues that are changing the regulatory environment in which our movement exists. If you’re interested in how Wikimedia can help shape these conversations, in better understanding the policy environment around us, or learning from communities tackling these issues firsthand, these sessions deserve a place on your schedule.

Please note that session dates and times may be subject to change. For the latest information, please consult the official Wikimania programme.

Day Zero – Tuesday, 21 July

Creative Commons Salon (9:30–13:00)
As both Wikipedia and Creative Commons celebrate their 25th anniversaries, this participatory gathering invites Wikimedians, creators, educators, and open knowledge advocates to reflect on the human relationships that have sustained the commons for a quarter century. Through facilitated discussions, participants will explore what openness has made possible—and what it will take to steward it into the future.

Global Advocacy: Capacity Building Training (14:30–16:30)
Whether you’re new to advocacy or already engaged in policy work, this practical training offers valuable skills from experienced advocates outside the Wikimedia movement. Helping to build advocacy capacity across the movement, topics include communications strategy, coalition building, and engaging decision-makers.

Wednesday, 22 July

Defending the knowledge commons: Policies for a resilient Wikimedia (9:30–10:25)
As policymakers increasingly discuss digital sovereignty and critical digital infrastructure, this panel asks where Wikipedia fits into that conversation. Speakers from Wikimedia, civil society, and the policy world will explore how public policy can better recognize and support knowledge commons facing growing pressures from AI, information integrity challenges, and questions of representation.

Thursday, 23 July

Protecting Free Knowledge: The New Battlegrounds of Digital Freedom (12:00–12:55, in French)
Ten years after France’s landmark Digital Republic Law, this keynote examines how debates around digital sovereignty, platform regulation, algorithmic governance, and digital commons have evolved. The discussion asks what space remains for collaborative projects like Wikipedia amidst increasing regulation and changing expectations of the internet.

Collateral Damage? Human Creativity and Interaction in the AI Crawling Era (14:30–15:25)
AI crawlers are transforming how human-created knowledge is reused online. This session brings together a diverse set of organizations experiencing the impacts of large-scale AI crawling from different vantage points: open knowledge platforms, news publishers, internet infrastructure providers, and other online communities either facing or responding to rising scraping demands. The panel explores how different communities are responding to large-scale AI scraping and asks how we can ensure that human creativity, relationships, and stewardship continue to underpin the web. 

Legal Self-Defense Workshop for Open-Knowledge Practitioners (16:00–17:25)
This interactive workshop explores how open knowledge communities can use legal frameworks creatively rather than simply treating them as constraints. Through practical discussion, participants will examine copyright, open licensing, and strategies for navigating complex legal environments.

Governing the Open Web in the Age of AI: From Legal Principles to Technical Practice (16:00–17:25)
How should the open web be governed as AI systems increasingly rely on publicly available knowledge? This workshop connects legal developments—including copyright cases and text-and-data mining debates—with practical approaches to responsible web crawling and shared infrastructure, offering participants a deeper understanding of the policy and technical questions shaping the future of open knowledge.

Friday, 24 July

From Online Safety Laws to Movement Lessons: What Brazil, Australia, and the UK Teach Us About Influencing Policy (9:30–10:25)
Online safety laws are rapidly reshaping the legal environment for Wikimedia projects around the world. This panel compares advocacy efforts across Brazil, Australia, and the United Kingdom, highlighting what helped build productive relationships with policymakers, which advocacy strategies proved effective, and how movement collaboration strengthened outcomes. Together, participants will identify lessons that can help Wikimedia respond more strategically as similar legislation emerges globally.

Saturday, 25 July

A Practical Guide to Working with United Nations Agencies and Their Resources (9:30–10:25)
Learn how Wikimedians can collaborate with UN agencies and other intergovernmental organisations to improve Wikimedia content. The workshop shares practical guidance on partnerships, project planning, and making use of the UN’s vast collection of openly licensed multilingual resources.

The Global Rise of Age Verification Regulations: What can we do about it? (14:30–15:25)
Age verification laws are spreading quickly across jurisdictions, often justified through child safety narratives but carrying much broader implications for privacy, access to information, and free expression. This discussion invites the movement to collectively explore emerging regulatory trends and consider how Wikimedia can respond while protecting its core values.

Digital Hygiene in Wikimedia Spaces: Legal, Social, and Community Strategies for Sustainable Participation (14:30–15:25)
Contributor well-being is increasingly recognised as foundational to healthy online communities. This panel explores how communities can balance openness with safety, transparency with privacy, and volunteer governance with long-term sustainability. Rather than prescribing solutions, participants will collaboratively explore practical approaches to strengthening healthy participation across Wikimedia projects.

Global Legal Developments and Trends (14:30–15:25)
The Wikimedia Foundation Legal team returns with its annual overview of significant litigation, enforcement actions, and legal developments affecting the movement over the past year. If you want to stay informed about the legal landscape surrounding Wikimedia, this session remains an essential annual update.

Who is running the world? Political data matters (16:00–16:55)
EveryPolitician and OpenSanctions introduce participants to efforts to make Wikidata the world’s definitive community-maintained source for political officeholders. This hands-on workshop demonstrates how contributors can strengthen publicly available political information and improve transparency worldwide.

Defending Wikipedia as a Reliable Source in the Age of AI (16:20–16:30)
Large language models (LLMs) are introducing new challenges for Wikipedia’s editing processes and information integrity. This talk examines emerging threats posed by AI-generated content, how communities are responding, and the work underway to protect Wikipedia’s reliability while adapting to a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Reference Risk: A Research-Based Approach to Source Reliability in Wikipedia (16:30–16:40)
Reliable sourcing has always been central to Wikipedia’s credibility. This session presents new Wikimedia Foundation research into how editors assess source reliability and introduces Reference Risk, a new language-agnostic approach designed to strengthen sourcing practices across all language versions of Wikipedia while inviting community feedback and collaboration.

We hope these sessions spark new ideas, strengthen connections across the movement, and inspire even more collaboration in defending free knowledge together. Come join us there.