On 9 April 2025, theCentre for Internet and Society (CIS)announced a halt to its longstanding "Access to Knowledge" (A2K) program in India, caused by the country's restrictions on foreign funds fornon-profit organizations.

In some ways, CIS is unlike aWikimedia regional chapter, for reasons such as being a tech-oriented nonprofit with programs that are independent of the Wikimedia movement. In other ways, it performed some of the typical functions of a Wikimedia chapter, given the fact that its staff coordinated activities like Wikimedia training programs and fulfilled community requests for Wikimedia support throughout India –Wikimedia India, a separate organization, was approved as an official chapterin 2010, but was thende-recognized in 2019. The A2K program was the Wikimedia program of CIS. Following its shutdown, the Wikimedia movement no longer has any ongoing major Wikimedia programs in India, although the April 9 announcement mentioned that the CIS-A2K team "is actively exploring possible solutions".

The reason for the halt in the program is that NGOs in India who receive foreign money must regularly renew their certificate of compliance with theForeign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. CIS recently lost its FCRA certificate, so it can no longer receive the grants from the US-basedWikimedia Foundation that have supported the A2K program so far. A separategrant to CIS in support of the2025 edition ofWikiConference India – which was set to be held inKochi next September – was canceled too, according to anApril 7 WMF statement that cited "recent regulatory changes in India".

There is no public information about why CIS' FCRA renewal application was rejected. The Wikipedia article for FCRAlists numerous cases where organizations in India lost their certificate, and were therefore shut off from receiving foreign funds. As the Wikipedia page notes, Western organizations affected by this tend to complain, while India'sMinistry of Home Affairs argues that compliance is a reasonable expectation.

The loss of certificate occurs in the context of other Wikimedia conflicts in India, including theongoing Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation court case and theFebruary 2025 accusation of disparaging the Hindu kingSambhaji from theMaharashtra Police.

WhileThe Signpostlast covered the CIS A2K program 10 years ago, the organizers themselves have continually published numerous reports and newsletterson Meta-wiki. Themost recent edition of the "CIS-A2K newsletter", issued in January 2025, featureda study about how Indian contributors engage with the mobile apps for Wikipedia andWikimedia Commons, as well as news on the "She Leads Bootcamp 2025" (an event for fostering leadership among female Wikimedians in India), and work on developing aWikisource reader app.

This month's announcement marks the end of an era that first began around 2010, when the Wikimedia Foundation was pursuing serious plans to itself open an office in India, as its first presence outside the US – read previousSignpost coverageat this link.By early 2011, however, these plans had been downgraded to the hiring of an India-based consultant. Later that year, the very well-attended firstWikiConference India inMumbai highlighted the country's high levels of enthusiasm for Wikipedia (apart from thevarious active Wikipedias in Indian languages, India still boasts thethird-highest number of active editors from any country on the English Wikipedia), but also foreshadowed its current hostile legal environment. Asreported inThe Signpost at the time,[a] group of about a dozen protestors from the youth wing of the nationalistBJP political party demonstrated against one map on Wikipedia, whose depiction of the contested border regions surroundingJammu and Kashmir they objected to [...] and planned to file a criminal case against "Jimmy Whales and Wikipedia's India chairman [sic]". The BJP subsequentlytook power in 2014 and remains India's ruling party as of today.–Br,H,O

Until 31 May, the Wikimedia Foundation is seeking community comment on and approval of their2025–2026 Annual Plan.

Everyone is invited to form their own thoughts on the planned "objectives and key results" (OKRs), but at a glance, the WMF seems to continue to prioritize Wikipedia over other Wikimedia projects, and seek short-term increases in established programs for editor engagement and retention, rather than development of more ambitious multi-year projects and features.

As reported last November, the Wikimedia Foundation's revenue for 2023–2024 was US$185 million. The Wikimedia project values user governance and user input as fundamental to the success of the project, so how the next year's nearly $200 million will be spent is to be decided by Wikipedia editors andSignpost readers. Please give the Wikimedia Foundation board your feedback by commenting. For anyone who wants support from theSignpost in rallying attention and funding commitments to your favorite cause, please considersubmitting your manifesto, petition, or other call to action in the next issue, so that you can recruit more people to support it. –Br

Wikimedia LGBT+, theWikimedia user group which supports LGBT+ Wikimedia editors and the development of LGBT+ Wikimedia content,welcomes its first staff membersBisi Alimi as first Executive director andVic Sfriso as Director of programmes and community engagement.

WikiProject LGBT+ studies isamong the most popular WikiProjects in English Wikipedia, and it tends to be popular inall Wikimedia language versions where it exists. But it is also the case that there have been many on-Wiki LGBT-related conflicts in Wikipedia's history. Examples includediscussions of transgender pronouns in biographies andhow to report notions of transgender identity.

The Signpost welcomes Wikimedia LGBT+'s staff and wishes them well in this important and challenging role.

–Sb,Bluerasberry (Br)

Disclaimer:Bluerasberry (Br), one of the authors of this section, has been involved in Wikimedia LGBT+ in several capacities, including thehiring process.

After a recentRequests for Comment, Administrator Elections have become a permanent process. Thefirst trial election in October 2024 was considered successful, and had 11 out of 32 candidates getting the mop. Future elections are expected to be held every five months, with the next one set to take place sometime mid-2025. Discussion and coordination for it is currently underway atWikipedia talk:Administrator elections. The elections and related RFCs were last covered byThe Signpost in the27 Feb issue. –S

After a selection process earlier last year, theAffiliations Committee (AffCom) announced the incoming members onwikimedia-l mailing list. Notably, the committee added just two Voting members,Aleksey Chalabyan andLucas Teles, both already having prior AffCom experience. The committee also confirmed seven advisory members for a one-year term, ending in 2026. AffCom as a whole advises theBoard of Trustees on Wikimedia affiliates, chapters, and user groups. –S

Disclaimer:Soni, the author of this section, had applied for AffCom in the aforementioned selection process.

TheUniversal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C)has started a voting session on proposed changes to theU4C Charter andUCoC Enforcement Guidelines. – SeeVillage pump notification for local discussions. Editors may vote on these changes until 1 May 2025.

The changes are bundled asfive distinct proposals and involve minor changes to wording, changes to U4C policies for recusal and quorum, and the overall process. More notable changes include appointing up to four non-voting members and removing the "homewiki requirement". Currently, only two members with any project as their "homewiki" can sit on the U4C, making0xDeadbeef andBarkeep49 the only members from the English Wikipedia until their terms end. If passed, other enwiki editors will be eligible for a seat in future elections.

The U4C is generally responsible for enforcement of theUniversal Code of Conduct, as well as resolving local conflicts in smaller projects or systemic project bias. Since it was seated mid-2024, the U4C has heardcase requests for de.wiktionary, zhwiki and Commons, resulting in at least one global ban and one desysopping.

The Committee was last covered byThe Signpost in the27 Feb 25 and24 Dec 24 issues. –S

The Wikimedia Foundation released two new Bulletins onApril 4 andApril 18, respectively.

The former Bulletin includeda BoT Noticeboard message, co-signed by BoT ChairNataliia Tymkiv and WMF CEOMaryana Iskander, elaborating more on the Foundation's recent announcement of new plans to strengthen globalNPOV policies – see theNews from Diff andIn focus columns from the April 9 issue of theSignpost for more context. The report also highlighted theglobal deployment plan for thethe CampaignEvents extension, as well as updates on thePeacock edit check tool, the appointment ofa new elections committee andnew additions to theWikipedia Library.

The April 18 Bulletin shed a light onupcoming conversations on the 2025-2026 Annual Plan, the12th Annual Wiki Workshop (set to be held online on May 21-22), theWikimedia Hackathon taking place inIstanbul from May 2 to 4, theintegration ofWikifunctions with theDagbani Wikipedia as its first pilot project, the introduction of theEdge Uniquesfirst-party cookie system, and finally the announcement of theWiki Loves Monuments 2024 winners – see this issue'sGallery section for more information. –O

• New administrators:The Signpost welcomes our newest administrator,Rusalkii, who has obtained the sysop bit after the 23 April closure of her unanimous 156/0/0 !voterequest for adminship. On the other hand,another RfA was not successful, following 66% of support which automatically triggered abureaucrat chat. Finally,a third request did not meet the initial !vote bar, and therefore was not successful.
• New recall petition: Anadmin recall petition for userGimmetrow was initiated, marking this as the fourth ever instance of an ADRC. The petition reached the required 25 signatures in less than a day: as a result, Gimmetrow can start anWP:RRfA within 30 days to retain their mop.
• Active administrators: The number ofactive administrators hit a low for this year, with 433 mop-equipped users being registered as of 23 April.
• Milestones: The following Wikimedia projects reachedmilestones in March and April 2025:
  • 1,000 articles:Ewe Wikipedia
  • 2,000 articles:Dagaare Wikipedia
  • 10,000 articles:Shilha Wikipedia
  • 20,000 articles:Ossetian Wikipedia,Saraiki Wikipedia
• Articles for Improvement: This week'sArticle for Improvement isInternet research (beginning 28 April), followed byMotherboard (beginning 5 May). Please be bold in helping improve these articles!
• Tariffs keep on bouncing around: To no one's surprise, daily readership of theTariff article shot up from less than 5,000 a day to over 60,000 on 3 April, in the aftermath ofthe introduction of new tariffs by theTrump administration and the subsequent2025 stock market decline – this takeoff in daily views followed a year of even crazier bouncing around.Full data is available here, even if it's still not directly available on Wiki via theAnnual readership template.
• Katy Perry takes off, too: Daily pageviews onKaty Perry increased from the mid four figures in early April to 120,000 on April 14, the flight date ofBlue Origin NS-31. Oddly, the page about the space missiononly reached shy of 26,000 pageviews on the same day.
• Death Race for WikiLove: On April 20, userPanamitsu uploaded onCommons ashort animated clip that shows the evolution of theTop 20 list of Wikipedians by total number of edits from 2002 to 2025. You can find more details about the methods adopted by Panamitsu for retrieving data in the video's description.

• Herbal (and global) collaborations: Ongoing, very recent, or upcomingediting collaborations include WikiProject Cannabis's420 Collaboration and WikiProject Europe'sEuropean Destubathon, which have both concluded at the end of April, and WikiProject Plants'sPhilodendron Garden Party, active through the end of May. Other ongoing challenges can be viewedhere.

Thanks! It was fun making it! ^_^📶Panamitsu(talk)23:09, 2 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Panamitsu: An impressive job, indeed. Thank you for reporting it to us in the first place!Oltrepier (talk)13:02, 4 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]