CDA 230 Success Cases: Wikipedia

This is the fourth part in a series of posts about the importance of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230). CDA 230 limits the liability of a number of Internet services that host user-generated content.

Wikipedia is a perfect example of a site that relies on the immunities afforded by CDA 230. The website—the seventh most popular site in the world—is a completely user-generated online encyclopedia that is freely available in hundreds of different languages.

We spoke with Michelle Paulson, legal counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and its sibling sites. Michelle, who deals with a host of issues including intermediary liability, had lots to say about the importance of CDA 230 to Wikipedia.

What types of complaints or legal threats have you encountered regarding about user content? What are the most common legal issues you encounter?

Defamation claims are the most common by far—most of the legal threats against the Wikimedia Foundation either directly invoke claims of defamation or defamation is the motivation behind the claims that are actually made. For example, a celebrity or politician may claim that their right to privacy has been violated because they did not authorize a negative statement to be published about them on Wikipedia. While the claim may not be defamation in name, it is in spirit.

As you know, all Wikimedia Projects are educational, wiki-based, freely-licensed resources that are collaboratively created and curated by a global community of volunteer contributors and editors. Anyone in the world can read or contribute to the Wikimedia Projects. In fact, the Wikimedia Foundation does not write or edit any of the content found on the Projects.

One of the benefits (and consequences depending on how you look at it) of free speech and open platforms like Wikipedia or Wikinews is that there is a lot more unfiltered and uncensored information out there—about places, things, and people—than there ever was before. And people don’t always like what is said about them, particularly on the Internet. They frequently wish to regain control over what is said about them and to do this, they threaten or actually file suit.

But against whom? Traditionally, plaintiffs went after those with editorial control… newspaper publishers, TV stations, radio stations… but in an age where they might not necessarily know the identity of the person who allegedly defamed them, they now come after the companies that host these open platforms.

Now, I’m not saying that anonymity is to blame—quite the opposite—anonymity is essential for free speech to exist, grow, and thrive, both online and off. I’m simply saying that I understand the frustration that someone can feel when they read something unflattering about themselves and I understand why they think suing hosting providers can fix their problems. But suing organizations that merely provide arenas for speech, ideas, and knowledge to be shared is not right way to address concerns over content.

How do you respond to such complaints or threats? (e.g., what if someone complains about allegedly defamatory content?)

Initially, we try to explain what it is that we do—the role of the Wikimedia Foundation versus the role of the community of users. Frequently, the people who tend to be upset about what is being said about them on the Internet are the ones who don't really understand the open nature of the Internet—and definitely don't understand the nature of the Wikimedia Projects.

Because Wikipedia, as our largest and most popular Project, is the subject of most of the legal threats lodged against us, I will focus on it for the purposes of this discussion. However, it should be noted that legal threats have concerned all of our Projects at some point or another.

Many people have the misconception that Wikipedia is something that the Wikimedia Foundation tirelessly writes itself and curates, but it's actually very much a community-written and community-controlled labor of love. We have to explain to complainants that the users are the ones that write Wikipedia, the ones that update it, the ones that develop the policies that govern what should and shouldn't be in the articles, and the ones that enforces those policies and decisions.

After we explain how Wikipedia works generally, we try to explain the relevant policies and dispute procedures for their particular complaint and encourage them to use established community processes to resolve their concerns. The community has a system of processes and policies that can sometimes be a little hard to navigate, especially for people who