Centre puts Wikipedia on notice for alleged bias amid ANI tussle

The Centre has sent a notice to Wikipedia asking it to explain as to why it should not be treated as a publisher instead of an intermediary. The notice has been sent citing complaints of alleged bias and inaccurate information on the web page, said people in the know.

The notice comes at a time when Wikipedia is embroiled in a legal battle with country's news agency ANI which has sued Wikipedia accusing it of being "a propaganda tool" for the government. In its suit, ANI has further alleged that on Wikipedia a paragraph describing the news agency says, "distributing material from fake news websites". The legal tussle, once decided, might have a bearing on liability and duties of intermediaries when the online content posted by them is called into question.

Filing a defamation suit seeking damages of ₹2 crore, ANI has demanded that the alleged defamatory page against it be taken down.



In August this year, a single judge of the Delhi High Court had directed Wikipedia to disclose to ANI the subscriber details that had made the defamatory edits to the ANI page.

At the next hearing, in September, the single judge had cautioned Wikipedia for failing to comply with the court's previous order to disclose details of the subscribers who had edited the ANI page. Aggrieved by the directions of the single bench, Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, moved an appeal before a division bench of the Delhi High Court.


ANI brought to the notice of the division bench that Wikipedia had published a page on its website wherein the order of the single judge-directing Wikipedia to disclose the details of subscribers-was "adversely commented upon". Taking strong exception to this, a division bench of the Delhi HC headed by the chief justice on October 16 noted that in the said publication the order passed by the single judge to release the identities of the editors who made the edits amounted to "censorship and a threat to the flow of information".