Dear friends,
This email contains links to updated resources on the Global Advocacy Meta-Wiki page to support your advocacy work, as well as a few announcements on how to get involved with upcoming events. Curious what the WMF team has been up to in the past few months? We’ve conveniently documented everything in this “Don’t Blink” recap <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2026/08/21/dont-blink-protecting-the-wikimedia-model-its-people-and-its-values-in-july-2026/>. Highlights include: Understanding online age verification; child safety in Brazil; Wikimedia and AI. We said watch this space. These updates are now live! 1. Completed! Communication survey. The results are in and OUT when it comes to the survey we ran about how this group wishes to engage on calls, collaborate, and communicate. On this page of our Meta-Wiki hub <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Legal/Global_Advocacy/Conversation_hours_and_Events>, you can find the link to survey results as well as our next steps. We will be relaunching our monthly internet governance calls a swell as our quarterly advocacy network calls. - Next steps for quarterly calls: These calls will be hosted by YOU. Please add your name to the list if you’re interested in hosting one of them. If no one signs up, we will not move forward with these calls. - Next steps for monthly calls: The next call has already been scheduled for Thursday, October 1st. If you have not been invited but would like to be, send Ziski an email. 2. Published! Comprehensive resource that compiles all key messages to explain Wikimedia’s value to policy makers. Find it here on Commons <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Key_External_Messages_to_Explain_Wikimedia%E2%80%99s_Value.pdf>. Save it. Use it. Love it? 3. Updated policy priorities. WMF team is transitioning to a highly prioritized remit of policy priorities for this fiscal year. These have now been updated on our Meta-Wiki page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Legal/Global_Advocacy/About>. Our focus will be on (1) Ensuring that laws and regulations protect the Wikimedia model and support its sustainable reuse over time; and (2) Ensuring that new legislation and regulation around online safety will not harm key values of the community’s editorial review or principles of open governance. Our “documentation” page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Legal/Global_Advocacy/Documentation>has been updated to include a brand new section dedicated to online safety, as well as an archive of useful publications where you can see how we talk about preserving and protecting the digital commons in the age of AI. Events for you: RightsCon & EU Public Domain Day == EU Public Domain Day == European Public Domain Day 2027 (EPDD27) will be held on 21 January 2027 in the Royal Library in Brussels, Belgium. Together with scholars, advocates, policy-makers and practitioners, EPDD celebrates the Public Domain and discusses how we collectively can continue fostering it. EPDD is collaboratively co-organized by a group of Belgian stakeholders in the public domain sphere, including Wikimedia Europe and Wikimedia Belgium. Here is how you can participate: - Submit a proposal: Send in a contribution to present at EPDD27. The deadline for submissions is 30 September 2026. - Save the date: Join us on 21 January 2027 at the Royal Library in Brussels. For more details, please see: - Call for Contributions: https://www.pdday.org/news/call-for-contributions-2027/ - About Public Domain Day: https://www.pdday.org/about/ == RightsCon Online == Registration is now open for the RightsCon Continues Summit <https://rightscon.summit.tc/catalog/rightscon-continues-2026> (online, starting September 22, 2026)! Over the course of 24 hours, spanning every time zone, the RightsCon Continues Summit will bring our community together for a unique moment of collective resilience. Through a focused online program built around themes of solidarity, movement building, and cross-sector collaboration, participants will exchange ideas, strengthen relationships, and tackle some of the biggest threats facing digital rights today. To learn more or register today, visit the registration page <https://www.rightscon.org/registration>. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to [email protected]. Topics Wikimedians are actively monitoring and engaging in ==Forgive me Father for AI have….== Wikimedians are engaging religious figures, the Vatican in particular, on discussions of AI ethics. - Wikimedia Switzerland hosted and spoke at an excellent event that covered Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical on AI <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnifica_humanitas>. Watch the recording on YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKzlJEOMdDg>. @Jenny Ebermann <[email protected]> - Wikimedia Brazil is joining Father Paolo Benanti of the Vatican on September 2nd for an event with UNESCO on plural intelligence <https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7496691954219581440/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAsbpqoB-OkBbw4RMiIMp7M64HDwWLrNjeo>. @João Alexandre Peschanski <[email protected]> Why are we sharing a stage? AI leaders in Silicon Valley are increasingly invoking morality arguments such as the Antichrist or "magic intelligence in the sky" - either way, framing AI as something that will reshape human destiny. You know who thinks about morality and the antichrist a lot? The Vatican (and other religious groups). And they take it seriously when someone with no background in these concepts treads on their toes. Believe it or not, Wikimedia and religious entities, particularly the Vatican, may be on the same team in AI discussions. That team is the one calling for alternative interpretations of AI ethics than what silicon valley and industry leaders are propagating. Specifically, an understanding that AI advancements need to place humans, and human dignity, at the center of the equation. Technological progress must be weighed in light of the social, cultural, and moral consequences it can have. And finally, these tools must be able to reflect the plurality of human experiences and intelligence. Moreover, we both know what it means to work through multilingual, global networks. 🤓To learn more about the Vatican’s stance, I recommend this interview by Kara Swisher <https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vatican-takes-on-ai/id1643307527?i=1000775139323> . Why is this a smart play from a policy advocacy perspective? Generally, forming unlikely alliances is an excellent advocacy tactic. My favourite example from the Wikimedia universe is the work Wikimedia South Africa and ReCreate did <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_South_Africa/Copyright_Amendment_Bill>to advocate for Copyright reform alongside Blind South Africa, the Actor’s Guild and Teacher’s Union. It helps you bring in new perspectives that sharpen your arguments. Access to a new network of stakeholders and allies that your new partners have gives you a broader reach, since you probably haven’t worked with their network before. It secures more media attention. And it often gives your cause higher credibility if unlikely partners advocate for the same thing (the surprise factor means policymakers think, ‘woah, if these two are agreeing on something, maybe I need to pay attention’). If we are able to work more closely with well-known religious leaders, we can pitch more interesting and unique panels on major international stages. We can also share information about Wikimedia’s unique model and value across networks that we haven’t before accessed. And finally, it may win support for Wikimedia (or at least, make it harder to oppose us) among conservative leaning audiences. == Online safety and age-verification bills == We responded to a consultation in Brazil on the topic of child safety. All details here <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2026/07/07/protecting-digital-public-goods-wikimedia-foundation-and-wikimedia-brasil-contribute-to-brazils-latest-digital-eca-consultation/> . Lots and LOTS of age-verification updates in the EU. See the EU Monitoring Report <https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/thread/WRRV7WWOYJYMLVDGMBFWF5OUNXQQPOFS/> . ‼️The biggest headline in this space is Meta’s landmark settlement in the US. Read more: - The VergeCast <https://finance.biggo.com/podcast/1d289cb26299a180> breakdown of the settlement - TechDirt <https://www.techdirt.com/2026/08/26/meta-just-paid-nearly-17-billion-to-make-sure-it-gets-to-write-the-kid-safety-rules-for-every-other-social-media-platform/> analysis of the ruling - Tech Policy Press <https://www.techpolicy.press/what-metas-us-settlement-on-child-safety-means-for-europe/>: What the US ruling might mean for Europe Great newsletters to monitor tech trends To learn more about what's happening in tech policy discussions beyond Wikimedia, check out some of these newsletters: - The Internet Exchange <https://internet.exchangepoint.tech/> - TechCrunch <https://techcrunch.com/tag/newsletter/> - Tech Policy Press <https://www.techpolicy.press/newsletter/> - Axios AI newsletter <https://www.axios.com/technology> - Rest of the World <https://restofworld.org/> Advocacy events where we're showing up as a movement (list always evolving) 1. Sept 4 - 6 | Global Gathering, Portugal 2. Sept 8 - 10 | Data for Policy, <https://dataforpolicy.org/> Barcelona 3. Sept 22 | RightsCon Online Summit 4. Sept 22 - 25 | UN General Assembly, NYC 5. Oct 2 - 3 | WMEU Big Fat Brussels Meeting, Brussels 6. Oct 28 - 30 | Mozilla Festival, Barcelona 7. Nov 4 - 5 | Thomson Reuters TrustConference, London 8. Nov 10 - 12 | Paris Peace Forum, Paris 9. Nov 17 - 19 | Digital Public Goods Alliance annual members meeting, Paris 10. Dec 14 - 18 | Internet Governance Forum, Nairobi === [image: 🙏]Thanks for Reading This Far[image: 🙏] === Franziska Putz (she/her) Senior Movement Advocacy Manager Global Advocacy, Wikimedia Foundation [email protected] UTC Timezone
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