The United States-based non-profit Wikimedia Foundation informed the Delhi High Court on Monday that it was ready to share basic subscriber information about its users who edited the Wikipedia page for news agency ANI, reported Bar and Bench.
The High Court has been hearing a defamation case filed by ANI seeking the removal of an allegedly defamatory description on its Wikipedia page, which says that the news agency has been criticised for serving as a “propaganda tool” for the current Union government.
The bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing Wikipedia’s appeal against a single-judge order requiring the disclosure of the identity of users who included the allegedly defamatory statements about ANI.
Wikipedia is a free online collaborative encyclopaedia edited by volunteers. Until Monday, the platform had refused to identify the editors of ANI’s page. On October 14, the High Court described Wikipedia’s reluctance to disclose the information as “extremely disturbing”.
While it is unclear what details will be shared with the High Court in a sealed cover, basic subscriber information typically refers to a user’s name, address, email address, phone number and other identifiers.
On October 16, the High Court ordered Wikipedia to take down another webpage, titled Asian News International vs Wikimedia Foundation, detailing the defamation case’s proceedings.
After Wikipedia suspended access to the page, the High Court dismissed the news agency’s contempt plea against the platform. However, the proceedings on the appeal by Wikipedia continued.
Advocate Akhil Sibal, representing Wikipedia, said on Monday that his client would issue a service notice to the concerned users as per the High Court’s orders, reported Bar and Bench.
“We can file an affidavit to show steps have been taken to serve notice [to the users],” he said. “We will share a copy with ANI’s counsel although particulars will be redacted…The unredacted one we will place in a sealed cover so that the Court has that.”
Sibal said this would keep the identities of Wikipedia’s users out of the public domain while ensuring that the court has all the necessary information to proceed with hearing the case.
Also read: Why Delhi HC is angry with Wikipedia for calling ANI a ‘government propaganda tool’
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