AC-2025-LON-001365 - [2025] EWHC 2086 (Admin)

Mr Paines submits that the user verification duties would fundamentally disrupt Wikipedia’s collaborative model. They would force Wikipedia to either restrict access or implement unworkable changes which are not compatible with the way in which Wikipedia operates (for example, in relation to ensuring that users can opt not to encounter content from (or have their content edited by) non-verified users). This inevitably amounts to an unjustified interference with the first claimant’s rights under articles 10 and 11 of the Convention, and the second claimant’s rights under articles 8, 10 and 11.

Ms Ivimy says that the claimants have not established that they are victims of a breach of the Convention so as to give them sufficient standing to bring the claim. The claim is, at this stage, hypothetical and the question of whether there is, ultimately, a breach of Convention rights will depend on the correct interpretation of the regulation (taking account of the interpretative obligation under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998) and the regulatory decisions made by Ofcom. It is not appropriate to second-guess how the statutory and regulatory process will play out.