--- title: Wikimedia Foundation Releases First-Ever Transparency Report description: The Wikimedia Foundation says it has not granted any of dozens of general requests to alter or remove content from its sites. canonical: https://time.com/3084108/wikimedia-transparency-wikimania-london-wikipedia/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-06T10:00:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:02:54.265Z article:section: Business og:title: Wikimedia Foundation Releases First-Ever Transparency Report og:description: The Wikimedia Foundation says it has not granted any of dozens of general requests to alter or remove content from its sites. og:url: https://time.com/3084108/wikimedia-transparency-wikimania-london-wikipedia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wikimedia Foundation Releases First-Ever Transparency Report twitter:description: The Wikimedia Foundation says it has not granted any of dozens of general requests to alter or remove content from its sites. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Wikimedia Foundation Releases Its First-Ever Transparency Report ## Video: 10 Questions for Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SWcOGNEa.m3u8) (6:15)  _Published 2011-01-13. The Wikipedia founder celebrates his website's 10th anniversary Jan. 15. Jimmy Wales will now take your questions._  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Aug 6, 2014 10:00 AM CUT  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Aug 6, 2014 10:00 AM CUT Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit responsible for Wikipedia, one of the most visited websites on the Internet, says that it received and rejected hundreds of general requests to alter or remove content over the previous two years. According to the Foundation’s [first-ever transparency report](http://transparency.wikimedia.org "undefined") released on Wednesday, governments, organizations and individuals primarily in the United States, Germany and Britain made 304 general requests for alterations or removals from its various websites, which include Wikipedia. None of those requests were granted. According to the report, between July 2012 and June 2014, the Foundation did grant 24 requests, or 41 percent, of the 58 requests to remove content cited for copyright infringement that the Foundation deemed valid. The report also says that the Foundation granted 8 requests, or 14 percent, of the 56 requests for [user data](https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Privacy%5Fpolicy#Types%5Fof%5FInformation%5FWe%5FReceive%5FFrom%5FYou.2C%5FHow%5FWe%5FGet%5FIt.2C%5F.26%5FHow%5FWe%5FUse%5FIt "undefined"), compliant with the [Foundation’s terms](https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Requests%5Ffor%5Fuser%5Finformation%5Fprocedures%5F%26%5Fguidelines "undefined"), which in most cases require a warrant or court order. “The Wikimedia Foundation is deeply committed to supporting an open and neutral space, where the users themselves decide what belongs on the Wikimedia projects,” the Foundation said in a [blog post ](https://blog.wikimedia.org/ "undefined")announcing the release of the report. The report’s release coincided with the opening of the first stage of Wikimania, the annual conference of more than 2,000 Wikimedia fans and volunteer editors that is taking place in London this week. It also comes as other web giants, including [Facebook](http://time.com/59567/facebook-countries-censor-report-india/ "undefined"), [Twitter](http://time.com/3063761/twitter-transparency-report/ "undefined") and [Google](http://time.com/40336/google-transparency-report/ "undefined"), are increasingly releasing information about their interactions with governments around the world. “Transparency is a tenet of the Wikimedia movement,” the Foundation said in its blog post. “The transparency report we share today is in furtherance of our commitment to such openness.” One of the highest profile cases of a request to remove content came last year when a French intelligence agency asked the Wikimedia Foundation to remove an article about a French military base that it said contained classified military information. The Foundation, noting the information was openly available elsewhere, rejected the request and issued a statement about the incident [here](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal%5Fand%5FCommunity%5FAdvocacy/Statement%5Fon%5FFrance "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3084108/wikimedia-transparency-wikimania-london-wikipedia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3084108/wikimedia-transparency-wikimania-london-wikipedia/"},"headline":"Wikimedia Foundation Releases Its First-Ever Transparency Report","datePublished":"2014-08-06T10:00:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:54.265Z","description":"The group that oversees Wikipedia received 304 non-copyright related requests to alter or remove content and rejected all of them.","url":"https://time.com/3084108/wikimedia-transparency-wikimania-london-wikipedia/","keywords":["Tech","Google","Britain","facebook","london","Web","Wikipedia"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3084108/wikimedia-transparency-wikimania-london-wikipedia/","name":"Wikimedia Foundation Releases Its First-Ever Transparency Report"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales","description":"The Wikipedia founder celebrates his website's 10th anniversary Jan. 15. 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