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Wikipedia loses challenge to UK's new internet "safety" rules [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2025-08-11

The U.K. is implementing its so-called Online Safety Act, a legal smorgasbord of controls, restrictions, regulations and censorious follies of the kind likely to make quick fools of the censors. The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, challenged relevant parts of the law in court, but its challenge was dismissed today.

I refuse permission to claim judicial review on grounds (3) and (4) because the claimants do not have standing to bring a claim under the Human Rights Act 1998 and because those grounds of claim do not (as matters stand) have arguable merit.

I grant permission to claim judicial review on grounds (1) and (2), but I dismiss the claim. The claimants have not shown that the decision to make regulation 3 is flawed on any of the grounds that they have advanced.

The ruling nonetheless complained about the law's scope and indefinite requirements and said Wikimedia could proceed with its challenge later if it is found to be a high-risk platform by regulators.

If Ofcom determines that Wikipedia is a category 1 service and this means Wikipedia is unable to operate as at present, Johnson suggested that the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, should "consider whether to amend the regulations or to exempt categories of service from the act" and said Wikipedia could bring a further challenge if he did not.

The cry heard in comment threads around the world is "let's see them block Wikipedia!" This misses a point. English courts aren't likely to block Wikipedia even if provoked by it. The rules are sprawling and vague because the point is not to get universal compliance but to facilitate discretionary prosecution. To quote Justice Johnson: "I stress that this does not give Ofcom and the Secretary of State a green light to implement a regime that would significantly impede Wikipedia's operations." But why not? Perhaps because that would be inconvenient.

See also the plans across Europe to ban encryption and place all private communications under surveillance. It's the Richelieu quote: "give me six lines written by the most honest of men and I will find something there to hang him." But now he has all the lines.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/08/11/wikipedia-loses-challenge-to-uks-new-internet-safety-rules.html

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