Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind Wikipedia, is challenging a recent order by the Delhi High Court that mandates the removal of allegedly defamatory content from a Wikipedia page. The court’s order said these statements defamed a local Indian news website, ANI.
ANI, which is partly owned by Reuters, although the global news platform claims not to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the local media company, had sued Wikimedia last year for defamation over a description on a Wikipedia page that claimed ANI was a government “propaganda tool.” They sought the removal of such statements from Wikipedia’s platform, as well as 20 million rupees ($240,000) and an apology from Wikimedia.
In its filing last year, ANI claims it attempted to update the relevant Wikipedia page to reflect what it called the “true and correct” position, but these changes weren’t accepted by the platform.
Wikipedia’s local legal issues
On Thursday, April 4, a New Delhi high court ordered Wikipedia to remove statements considered defamatory and tarnishing to ANI’s professional reputation. The court is also reported to continue to hear ANI’s case on the other actions they are pursuing as redress.
In response to the court order, Wikimedia, the operator of Wikipedia, has now taken the case before a larger panel of judges of the same court on appeal of last week’s ruling.
According to information gathered by those close to the matter, the appeal case is already live on the high court’s website; however, there’s no detail on the content of the appeal. The case was brought up to the judges on Monday, April 7, but it has been pushed forward to another date that’s yet to be finalized.
Sidhant Kumar, a lawyer for ANI, is reported to have said that the ruling “affirms the fundamental right to reputation.”
This case adds to the questions that have recently arisen about the state of free speech in India, which is arguably the world’s largest democracy in terms of population.
Earlier in October 2024, the court ordered the takedown of a Wikipedia page related to the dispute, calling it “interference in court proceedings”, prompting Wikimedia to go to the Supreme Court in January.
In its supreme court filing, Wikimedia said that the selective and permanent takedown of content on its platforms has a chilling effect on free speech and restricts access to knowledge.
Wikipedia is known globally as the open-source internet encyclopedia, allowing users to modify its content and code. However, the content on Wikipedia is maintained by a set of volunteer editors. The platform also allows for content dispute resolution; however, it is left to be known if the option of content dispute resolution was provided to ANI or if the news platform applied for such resolution.
Increasing free speech clampdown on foreign media platforms
Following this case and its ruling, Wikipedia joins X, formerly Twitter, as the latest big tech company to get involved in court battles surrounding content takedowns in India. X has been embroiled in legal tussles since 2021, battling government orders to block and take down posts related to the Indian farmer protests that happened that same year. That year, the Indian government threatened the X leadership with fines and imprisonment for noncompliance.
The legal dispute contributes to growing concerns about the shrinking space for free expression in India, the world’s largest democracy by population, and the world at large.
India came third among the ten countries that accounted for over 90% of the global legal requests for removing digital content between 2020 and 2024.
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