Translations of this email will also be available on this page: https://w.wiki/EVFh

Dear all,

We hope this email finds you well. 

We are reaching out to share some digital safety and privacy tips and suggestions. As a movement that thrives on transparency and openness, it can be challenging to prioritise personal privacy and take appropriate security steps. However, maintaining privacy is crucial for safeguarding yourself and those close to you. We hope you will find this useful.

• Review your public footprint: Take a moment to assess what information about you is publicly accessible on Wikimedia projects (eg: user pages), other platforms, search engines, and people search sites. Also think about old accounts and profiles that you may not use anymore. Ask yourself if you are comfortable with what someone could learn about you from this information? What felt safe to share years ago may feel different now, especially as contexts change. It’s okay to update or remove details to better align with your current comfort level and risk environment.

• Be cautious of suspicious communications: Stay alert to phishing and other suspicious communication attempts. Bad-faith actors may try to impersonate trusted contacts, journalists, researchers, potential new employees or organisations to extract personal information. Avoid clicking on suspicious links, and consider verifying the sender’s identity with trusted third parties or with the organisation they claim to be from before engaging. 

• Tighten privacy settings: Ensure your social media accounts and other online profiles have strict privacy settings. Limit who can view your posts, contact you, or see your personal information. Regularly review and update these settings.

• Review and be cautious of your online activity: If you frequently post stories or updates on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or X, pay attention to who is viewing or engaging with them. Do you recognise all of the people? Are there unfamiliar accounts regularly watching your content? Be cautious if you see accounts with little personal information, strange usernames, or no mutual connections. These could be fake or anonymous profiles used by bad actors to monitor your activity.

• Take care of each other: If you notice someone else being targeted, reach out to them. Solidarity, even quietly expressed, can make a big difference. Report threats or abuse through appropriate channels, such as the Wikimedia Foundation's Trust & Safety (ca@wikimedia.org) team or local project administrators. For threats of imminent physical harm, please contact emergency@wikimedia.org 

For further resources, please see the Meta: Digital Safety Resources Page and the links below:

• Learn.Wiki Module Assess your digital security risks

• Meta: Digital Safety Considerations for Wikimedians 

• Diff: Privacy and Transparency: Staying safe in an open movement

• Diff: How can a username keep you safe?

• Diff: Doxing: Why should you care?

• Diff: Doxing: Have you tried doxing yourself?

• Meta: Digital Safety While Traveling and Attending Events

For chat or group admins, please consider the following:

If you administrate or monitor chats on other platforms or other lists, you play an important role in safeguarding the privacy and safety of members. Please consider the following actions you can take to enhance the group's security and protect its members:

• Activate anonymous admin mode

• Hide members list of the group

• Limit message forwarding

• Set messages to auto-delete after a certain time

Here is some information around this for WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and Discord. 

For any questions or further support around this, please reach out to talktohumanrights@wikimedia.org. Additionally, please see the Digital First Aid Kit which provides some preliminary self-diagnostic support for people facing the most common types of digital threats. 

With best wishes,

Human Rights Team