3 ms·
I don't understand why Wikipedia would fall under Category 1. Am I looking at the wrong thing, or does the definition in 3.(1) not require the service to use an
by ndriscoll 1y ago
I don't understand why Wikipedia would fall under Category 1. Am I looking at the wrong thing, or does the definition in 3.(1) not require the service to use an algorithmic recommendation system (which Wikipedia does not do)?
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2025/9780348267174 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2025/9780348267174
- betaby 1y agoBecause laws are not interpreted in a logical way. Especially the laws with a 'safety' aspects.
- buzer 1y agoI'm not sure if this Wikipedia's official policy but at https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/wikipedias-nonprofit-host-brings-legal-challenge-to-new-online-safety-act-osa-regulations-0f9153102f29 https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/wikipedias-nonprofit-hos... they do say: > Definition of content recommender systems: Having any “algorithm” on the site that “affects” what content someone might “encounter”, is seemingly enough to qualify popular websites for Category 1. As written, this could even cover tools that are used to combat harmful content. We, and many other stakeholders, have failed to convince UK rulemakers to clarify that features that help keep services free of bad content — like the New Pages Feed used by Wikipedia article reviewers—should not trigger Category 1 status. Other rarely-used features, like Wikipedia’s Translation Recommendations, are also at risk. > Content forwarding or sharing functionality: If a popular app or website also has content “forwarding or sharing” features, its chances of ending up in Category 1 are dramatically increased. The Regulations fail to define what they mean by “forwarding or sharing functionality”: features on Wikipedia (like the one allowing users to choose Wikipedia’s daily “Featured Picture”) could be caught.
- oconnore 1y agoWikipedia is based in San Francisco. Why can't they just tell the UK to pound sand?
- drivingmenuts 1y agoBecause some of Wikipedia's editors are based in the UK.
- nemomarx 1y agoThey presumably have editors in the UK, foundation members who live or work or travel there they would at least want to block the UK from accessing it first?
- integralid 1y agoAdding to what others said, they can just let UK block Wikipedia, but as a foundation that tries to share knowledge I think they're obliged to try avoid that. So they're doing just that right now, by challenging the law.
- netsharc 1y agoWikipedia's "gone black" before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_SOPA_and_PIPA#Wikimedia_community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_SOPA_and_PIPA..., IMO blocking access to the whole of UK would've been a big move that could've been effective.
- riffraff 1y agoAs I understand it, they refer to some of the moderation tools and the likes, which are not part of the typical Wikipedia experience. Everybody including the judges seem to agree this is dumb but it's the current law.
- MattPalmer1086 1y agoI agree, it does seem odd. They do promote bits of their content on the main page, I assume with an algorithm, but it's hardly like a social media feed.
- kibwen 1y agoLast time I checked, many many years ago, the front page was just an ordinary wiki page like any other, and its content was manually added.
- MattPalmer1086 1y agoCould well be manually added.
- Kim_Bruning 1y agoTake a look! * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&action=edit https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&action=... It's a large number of templates doing transclusions. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Transclusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Transclusion You can have snippets like this * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Today%27s_featured_article/August_12,_2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Today%27s_featured_a... Which shows up on the main page under featured article, and these pages are prepared by humans Just In Time: * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Today%27s_featured_article/August_12,_2025&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Today%2... A website where everything happens in public -including all the editing- is still kind of cool and relatively unique, even in 2025!. And most pages are a bit less complicated to handle than this. But the main page obviously gets a lot of attention.
- _Algernon_ 1y agoThe random article button uses algorithms to decide what content to show to the user.