The Indian government has issued a notice to online encyclopedia Wikipedia as part of its ongoing legal battle with a domestic news agency. The government wrote to Wikipedia, citing many complaints about prejudice and falsehoods on the website.
According to sources, the government has also pointed to a small group having editorial control of the website.
According to sources, the government is questioning why Wikipedia should not be recognized as a publisher rather than an intermediary.
Wikipedia is fighting a legal battle with news agency Asian News International (ANI) over allegedly posting “defamatory” articles about it. According to ANI, a phrase in the news agency’s Wikipedia profile erroneously accuses it of being “a propaganda tool for the incumbent government” and “distributing material from fake news websites”. ANI has asked that the page be taken down.
On September 5, the Delhi High Court issued a contempt notice to Wikipedia, citing its reluctance to divulge details about people who edited the ANI entry page.
Irked by the non-compliance of its order in connection with a defamation suit filed by the news agency, the court had told Wikipedia not to work in India if it does not like doing so, and that it will ask the central government to block the platform in the country.
In August, the court had ordered Wikipedia to disclose the identities of those who made the allegedly defamatory edits to the ANI page – and threatened to shut down the website if it didn’t comply with its orders.
Last month, SpaceX founder Elon Musk urged people to stop donating to the Wikipedia, claiming it was being controlled by “far-left activists”.
Earlier this year, reports had also indicated that Centre was going to send a notice to Google over its AI platform Gemini’s “biased” response to a question about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, before the Centre sent a notice, Google said that it had addressed the issue, and was “constantly working on improving” the system.
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Source: News18
