Wikipedia editors are considering a strike after the Wikimedia Foundation laid off staff earlier this month. The cuts affected members of the engineering team who handled bug fixes and supported volunteer contributors. The Foundation said the responsibility for the Community Wishlist feature, which allows editors to request changes, has been shifted to broader product and engineering teams.
The layoffs have sparked anger among editors, who rely on these teams for technical support. On internal forums, volunteers have proposed collective action, including editing strikes and reducing anti-vandalism work. More than 800 editors have signed a petition backing the idea.
Under one plan, editors would only make changes in serious cases, such as inappropriate content or protecting pages about living people. Other suggestions include disabling editing tools and using bots to alert users about the strike. Some editors have even raised the possibility of creating a separate version of Wikipedia if needed.
The Foundation has denied that the layoffs are linked to the recent formation of a staff union, Wiki Workers United, and said affected employees are still on its payroll while alternative roles are explored.
Although Wikipedia’s content is created by unpaid volunteers, the Foundation employs about 700 staff and contractors worldwide. It reported revenues of over $200 million in 2025, largely from donations.
The dispute highlights tensions between the volunteer community and the Foundation’s management, showing how workforce decisions can directly impact the functioning of this knowledge platform used widely by people across the globe.
