The Delhi High Court has issued summons to Wikipedia in a defamation case filed by ANI Media Private Limited, reported Bar and Bench.
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia edited by volunteers. It is owned by the United States-based non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.
The news agency told the court that a Wikipedia page about it contained a defamatory description of ANI.
The Wikipedia page about ANI says that the news agency has been criticised for serving as a “propaganda tool” for the current Union government, according to Bar and Bench. ANI has said that the description is defamatory and that Wikipedia was not allowing the page to be edited.
ANI’s petition seeks to have this text removed, in addition to Rs 2 crore in damages from Wikipedia.
ANI also contended that Wikipedia was not allowing its page to be edited. “They have closed my [ANI’s] page for editing by anyone and can only be edited through their representatives,” the news agency’s lawyer Sidhant Kumar told the court.
Kumar also contended that Wikipedia is a “public utility” and cannot “behave as a private actor”, reported Live Law.
Justice Navin Chawla verbally remarked, according to Live Law: “They’ll [Wikipedia] have to come and explain. It’s a pure case of defamation.”
Wikipedia has not commented on the matter so far.
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