Auditing Wikipedia Under the Digital Services Act

On December 16, 2024, Holistic AI successfully completed the world’s first independent audit of Wikipedia under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA represents a cornerstone of the EU's digital policy. Alongside the AI Act and Digital Markets Act, the DSA impacts global companies and is aimed at fostering a safer digital ecosystem.

As one of the 23 Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) designated by the European Commission, digital platforms with more than 45 million monthly EU site visitors, Wikipedia is subject to the DSA’s enhanced transparency, accountability, and safety standards.

The information on Wikipedia is created and moderated by a global community of nearly 260,000 volunteer contributors who set and enforce policies to ensure that information on the platform is fact-based, neutral, and attributed to reliable sources. As such, assessing Wikipedia within the context of its intended use was critical to the audit process. For example, a youth website might limit recommendations to prevent unauthorized purchases while an adult ecommerce site does the opposite. This audit reflects Holistic AI’s commitment to responsible digital governance and reinforces our leadership in platform compliance.

Key Highlights

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What Wikimedia Said

The Wikimedia Foundation is proud of our progress in meeting the DSA’s standards, including completing this inaugural independent audit regarding our compliance on matters such as complaint handling, transparency reporting, and risk assessment and mitigation." - Jacob Rogers, Associate General Counsel, Wikimedia Foundation

"We are grateful for the expertise of the Holistic AI team, who took time to understand Wikipedia's unique community-led content governance model, speak with Wikipedia volunteer contributors, and interpret the DSA in a way that made it possible for us to complete our audit ahead of schedule."

Holistic AI's Role

“This contextual evaluation is a distinctive feature of the Holistic AI Governance Platform, setting it apart from other compliance tools. Our work with the Wikimedia Foundation further reinforced this learning for our team, helping us deepen our understanding of the Digital Services Act as it applies to a very large online platform like Wikipedia…” - Emre Kazim, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Holistic AI

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit behind Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Its content is created and governed by a global community of nearly 260,000 volunteer contributors, committed to neutrality, verifiability, and fact-based information.

The Importance of Audits

Holistic AI recognizes the importance of independent audits in enforcing global digital policies like the DSA. As online threats grow—ranging from phishing to fraud—platform-level accountability and governance are critical to public safety and trust.

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