Wikimedia Australia contributes to Australian privacy law consultation
Wikimedia Australia (WMAU) and the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) have made a joint submission to the Australian Government’s consultation on the proposed Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026.
We support stronger privacy protections and meaningful control over personal information. At the same time, the submission highlights why the Wikimedia projects need to be considered differently from commercial, data-intensive online platforms.
Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects operate differently from commercial platforms. They are built and maintained by volunteers and serve the public interest. The Wikimedia Foundation collects very little personal information, does not track people across the internet, sell personal data or serve behavioural advertising. Wikimedia projects use transparent, community-led processes to create and maintain content.
The submission therefore requests the Government ensure that privacy reform does not have unintended consequences for the open knowledge ecosystem. Among other things, it recommends:
- an explicit exemption for non-profit, public-interest and community-governed knowledge and educational platforms,
- appropriate exceptions to the proposed right to erasure, protecting access to reliable information and the integrity of collaborative knowledge,
- recognition of the technical realities of distributed, mirrored, archived and openly licensed information,
- privacy protections that preserve pseudonymous participation without requiring platforms to collect additional personal information.
These issues are particularly relevant to our Wikimedia community. Revision histories, contribution records and other records of collaborative editing help volunteers identify sources, correct errors, investigate abuse and maintain the reliability of Wikimedia projects.
Our aim is to ensure that privacy reform protects people while preserving the open, collaborative and community-led nature of the Wikimedia projects.
Elliott Bledsoe and Belinda Spry contributed to the joint submission alongside Rachel Arinii Judhistari (WMF Lead Public Policy Specialist, Asia) and colleagues from the Wikimedia Foundation’s Legal team.