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Jimmy WalesDeclared Wikipedia will refuse UK Online Safety Act age verification requirements

Wales stated Wikipedia would not comply with UK Online Safety Act age verification requirements, saying 'We will not be identifying users under any circumstances. We will not be age-gating Wikipedia under any circumstances. So, if it comes to that, it's going to be an interesting showdown, because we're going to just refuse to do it.'

Scoring Impact

TopicDirectionRelevanceContribution
Knowledge Access & Information Freedom+towardsecondary+0.50
User Privacy+towardprimary+1.00
Overall incident score =+0.643

Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)

Evidence (1 signal)

Confirms Statement Oct 28, 2025 documented

Declared Wikipedia will refuse UK Online Safety Act age verification requirements

Wales stated Wikipedia would not comply with UK Online Safety Act age verification requirements, saying 'We will not be identifying users under any circumstances. We will not be age-gating Wikipedia under any circumstances. So, if it comes to that, it's going to be an interesting showdown, because we're going to just refuse to do it.'

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