14 DAY TRIAL // The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to change its terms of use and to insist that everyone that edits Wikipedia articles and gets paid to do so should disclose their affiliation.
Under Section 4 of the terms of use, Wikimedia Foundation has included a new sub-section called “Paid contributions without disclosure.”
Basically, people must disclose their employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which they receive or expect to receive compensation. “You must make that disclosure in at least one of the following ways: a statement on your user page, a statement on the talk page accompanying any paid contributions or a statement in the edit summary accompanying any paid contributions,” reads the section.
The Wikimedia Foundation board says that it has implemented the changes after observing the public discussion on mandating disclosure of paid editing. After reviewing and discussing the issue, it has decided to amend the Terms of Use to reflect the new decision.
“This amendment intends to provide guidance and information for good-faith editors; to assist the community and Foundation in evaluating and handling paid advocacy editing; and to allow responsiveness to local conditions and needs.”
“It complements existing rules and policies that work together to maintain and improve the trustworthiness of Wikimedia content. For example, the Terms of Use already prohibit deceitful activities, and this amendment helps explain how to represent one's affiliation to avoid running afoul of those terms. In addition to legal requirements, many community policies require or strongly encourage disclosure of paid editing as a potential conflict of interest,” a letter from the Board reads.
Wikimedia’s general counsels, Stephen LaPorte, Luis Villa and Geoff Brigham, sign another blog post on the foundation’s blog. In it, they explain that the foundation believes that undisclosed paid advocacy editing is a black hat practice that can erode the trust Wikimedia volunteers and readers have in the platform, echoing a statement made back in October.
But they add that changing the rules should make it easier for everyone involved, even for volunteers who can flag entries that need to be edited better or to improve transparency. The new terms came into effect on June 16 and can already be seen by all visitors through a prompt on Wikipedia.
The Foundation will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the update in the coming months, especially given the complexity of the issue. If need be, they’ll make additional changes to improve it.