Wikimedia Foundation files amicus brief in Mexico urging continued use of intermediary liability protections for user-generated content in Richter v. Google

The Wikimedia Foundation filed an amicus brief before the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico, advocating that internet intermediary platforms should be protected from liability for user-generated content (UGC). This brief supports Google in the Ulrich Richter Morales and Claudia Ramírez Tavera v. Google, Inc. and Google México case, because of the implications for online platforms hosts operating in Mexico. For the Foundation and Wikimedia project, it could imply a threat to our community-led content creation and moderation model, as well as harm to the freedom of expression of readers and volunteer editors.

The Wikimedia Foundation recently submitted an amicus or “friend-of-the-court” brief in the Ulrich Richter Morales and Claudia Ramírez Tavera vs. Google Inc. and Google México case before Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. We are arguing for a continued use of the protections provided by the internet intermediary liability legal framework in Mexico, which allows online platforms to host user-generated content (UGC). These legal protections are also crucial to the Wikimedia projects because they allow the platform host to rely on effective community-led governance and moderation, rather than act as gatekeepers for editorial decisions of hundreds of thousands of people.

In this case, Ulrich Richter Morales, a lawyer and former secretary and advisor to the Citizen Participation Council of the Attorney General’s Office (in Spanish, Procuraduría General de la República) in Mexico, and his wife, Claudia Ramírez, sued Google, Inc. and Google México in 2015 for not removing an allegedly defamatory blog post on the Blogger platform, which is owned by Google. Subsequently, Richter sent an out-of-court notice to Google requesting the removal of the blog post from its platform, but Google refused to take it down. 

In our amicus brief, we pointed out that the liability protections for internet intermediaries are essential for the collaborative and neutral nature of platforms like Wikipedia: without such protections, platform hosts are likely to centralize decisions related to content creation and moderation in order to mitigate legal risks. Mexico adopted this legal framework under a trade agreement with Canada and the US—i.e., the 1998 Agreement between the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada (USMCA).

We also noted that holding platform hosts or intermediaries unnecessarily liable for UGC could harm the open nature of platforms like Wikipedia as well as the freedom of expression of its readers and volunteer editors. The Foundation believes that holding Google liable in this case could empower individuals who have vast resources to demand the removal of UGC without needing legal orders to do so. For these reasons, we urged the Supreme Court of Mexico to consider these likely consequences and maintain the protections necessary for an open and free online information ecosystem that can serve the public interest.

If you are interested in the lawsuit and want to learn more, read our amicus brief, available in English and in Spanish. 

We would like to thank the Wikimedia Foundation’s staff Amalia Toledo, Lead Public Policy Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Ojadamola Takuro, former Legal Fellow.