Wikipedia teams up with Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon for paid content access
The Wikimedia Foundation (through its Wikimedia Enterprise product) just struck deals with big names like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and others to let them tap into its huge library—a figure variously reported as 65 million pages across Wikimedia projects in more than 300 languages and as about 7.1 million articles—through a special platform called Wikimedia Enterprise.
The goal? To cut down on server overload from constant scraping and help generate revenue beyond donations.
Why does this matter?
With more people (and AIs) using Wikipedia without actually visiting the site, human pageviews dropped by 8% year-over-year (source needed)—which puts its future funding at risk.
These new partnerships mean tech giants will pay for reliable access, helping make sure Wikipedia sticks around for everyone.
As Wikimedia's Lane Becker said, the aim is to move companies from free access to commercial platforms and to secure commitments to sustain Wikipedia's work.