Hi public policy list,

Last Friday, the Wikimedia Foundation joined an amicus curiae brief in support of the Open Technology Fund's (OTF) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Technology_Fund challenge regarding U.S. Agency for Global Media’s (USAGM) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Agency_for_Global_Media decision to dismiss OTF's leadership. The brief was sent to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_District_of_Columbia_Circuit, where OTF’s challenge is currently pending. Wikimedia joined Access Now, EFF, Human Rights Watch and other organizations in this brief to educate the court about the importance of the OTF's independence and how the Agency’s actions threaten free expression worldwide.

For the full brief, see: https://www.accessnow.org/cms/assets/uploads/2020/07/OTF-Amicus-Brief-final....

For background on the effort to save the OTF's independence, see: https://saveinternetfreedom.tech/

For those following the situation, you may see news about multiple legal challenges to USAGM's actions. Last Tuesday, there was a temporary injunction from the Court of Appeals, i.e., a temporary halt on OTF's leadership change, and the day prior, the Attorney General of the city of Washington, D.C. filed a separate lawsuit in the D.C. Superior Court. We’ll be monitoring these efforts to protect OTF’s independence as they proceed.

Best,

Aeryn