United Kingdom: Wikimedia Foundation filed lawsuit against Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology challenging Online Safety Act categorisation regulations

On 20 May 2025, the Wikimedia Foundation filed a public lawsuit against the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology over the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) Categorisation Regulations. The case challenges the classification of Wikipedia as a “Category 1 service,” which brings it under compliance obligations applied to commercial platforms considered high risk to public safety. Wikimedia argues that this classification does not reflect Wikipedia’s non-commercial role or its mission to provide free, verifiable information, and could place constraints on user privacy and its operations.