Delhi HC raises neutrality issues with Wikipedia, criticizes opinionated editorials on ANI page
Court slams Wikipedia for violating its neutrality policy and hosting biased, defamatory statements on the page of news agency Asian News International.
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The Delhi High Court recently directed Wikipedia to take down allegedly defamatory content from the Wikipedia page of Asian News International (ANI).
The Court raised concerns about the neutrality of the page, emphasizing that the platform's policy mandates content to be presented from a neutral point of view without any editorial bias.
The Justice pointed out that the Wikipedia page about ANI appeared to lack neutrality, with statements sourced primarily from articles that were editorial or opinion-based, rather than factual reporting.
The Court noted that Wikipedia's content guidelines explicitly require encyclopaedic entries to be free from opinionated content, which was not adhered to in this case.
The Court underscored that Wikipedia cannot simply evade responsibility for harmful content published on its platform by invoking its status as an intermediary.
Given that Wikipedia promotes itself as an authoritative source of information, the Court stated that the platform bears a heightened responsibility to prevent defamatory content from being circulated.
ANI had moved the Court in an interim application, accusing the Wikimedia Foundation (which operates Wikipedia) of permitting defamatory edits on its page. These edits, ANI claimed, falsely described the agency as a "propaganda tool" for the Central government.
The Court’s examination of the cited articles revealed that the statements on Wikipedia were not an accurate representation of the original articles but instead twisted to mislead readers. It was also found that the statements about ANI were not only false but also defamatory, severely damaging the news agency’s professional reputation.
Further, the Court noted ANI’s argument that, given Wikipedia’s open-editing policy, it was at a disadvantage in defending its reputation against the public, as it could not easily correct misleading or defamatory content posted by third parties.
However, when ANI complained about non-compliance, the Court issued a contempt notice against Wikipedia. The matter later reached a Division Bench, which led to an agreement between ANI and Wikipedia to notify the responsible users while protecting their identities.
The Division Bench also criticized Wikipedia for hosting a page titled 'Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation,' relating to the ongoing legal case, and ordered its removal. While Wikipedia complied with the order, it has appealed to the Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear the matter today (April 4).
