User talk:Mdennis (WMF)

Terms of use and topics that require enhanced disclosure

There are a number of topics that require enhanced disclosure well beyond that in the Terms of Use, for instance:

• Promotion of securities is illegal under 15 U.S.C. § 77q(b) "without fully disclosing the receipt, whether past or prospective, of such consideration and the amount thereof". [1]
• Political advertising must carry a disclaimer [2]

In particular, such disclosure must be carried in the article itself. The ToU only mentions this vaguely -- "Applicable law [...] may further limit paid contributions or require more detailed disclosure." I'm amazed at how pathetically weak this is. This subset of undisclosed paid edits -- the paid use of Wikipedia to illegally promote securities or for electioneering purposes (see the Facebook controversy) is potentially ruinous to Wikipedia's reputation. What is the WMF's opinion on this? (It's mentioned on the FAQ, but why is it buried there? Surely this matter is more important than that, given recent controversies.) MER-C 14:06, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

Hi, MER-C. :) This seems more a question for Legal. With Wikimania going on right now, it may take a little time to get somebody to review and respond, but I'll ask them to take a look! --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 20:09, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

No problems. MER-C 20:59, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

There was something I forgot: the TOU doesn't mention other conflicts of interest that are very similar and require enhanced disclosure. Promoting a security/cryptocurrency you own on Wikipedia or your own political candidacy is strictly not paid editing, but is equally as bad as paying someone else to do it for you. MER-C 16:56, 21 July 2018 (UTC)

Hi MER-C, Maggie's team asked me to reply to your questions, since I worked on this part of the Terms of Use. The Terms of Use uses broad terms (like requiring users to comply with applicable law) because this is the legally strongest way to protect the Wikimedia projects and community. It is ultimately each user's individual responsibility to ensure their edits are legal and allowed, and we want to make sure the Terms of Use strike the right balance of informative transparency and legal rigor.

We include a few specific types of prohibited activity (like fraud, undisclosed paid activity) where Wikipedia has specific rules, but this does not provide any exemption from other laws such as the ones you identify. Laws still apply to users when they edit Wikipedia and it is still a violation of the Terms of Use to edit the projects in violation of the law.

The community can take action, such as blocking users per the community's own guidelines and policies, or for violations of the Terms of Use. You can also report violations of the Terms of Use to <legal@wikimedia.org>, although we may need to keep the rest of that case confidential to ensure we are in the best position to protect the Wikimedia projects from abuse. Best, Stephen LaPorte (WMF) (talk) 05:35, 9 August 2018 (UTC)

Hey

There is seem kind of administrator abuse named tonyballioni 1.159.86.232 (talk) 05:36, 14 February 2019 (UTC)