No notice received from Indian government, says Wikimedia Foundation

Earlier, a government official had told journalists that a notice on content was sent to the foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation has not received any notice from the Indian government on its content, a spokesperson for the non-profit said on Thursday (November 7, 2024).

Earlier, a government official claimed in a message to journalists on Tuesday that a notice was sent to the foundation, although no statement was issued through the Union government’s Press Information Bureau, and no copy of the notice was released. 

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting did not have any immediate comment on the non-receipt of its notice.

Also read | ANI vs Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia’s presence in India

The government’s alleged notice was described as calling out a “small group having editorial control,” an apparent reference to regular Wikipedia contributors being able to lock down a page to prevent vandalism by only allowing other regular contributors to make changes. The government also complained of “bias and inaccuracies”. 

The unusual back-and-forth between the government and Wikipedia comes even as the Delhi High Court hears a suit by Asian News International (ANI). The news agency, which provides footage to TV news channels and digital media houses, is fighting a description in a Wikipedia article on it that characterises it as friendly to the government and a spreader of misinformation on its behalf. The foundation has agreed so far to provide the details it has of users who have added these descriptions to ANI’s page in a sealed cover.

The case — and the conservative grievances with the supposed liberal slant of Wikipedia’s editors — have laid bare a key tension between India’s growing regulation of online platforms and the online encyclopedia: what to do with a non-profit that as a policy does not interfere in content decisions by unpaid users. 

“Volunteers from many backgrounds and political persuasions edit Wikipedia,” the foundation’s spokesperson said on Thursday. “This model reinforces that Wikipedia articles present a broad view of knowledge on a topic, rather than any one perspective … Indian Wikipedia editors are integral and valued contributors, constantly ranked as one of the top number of contributing editors from a single country globally.”

Digital rights groups have worried at the pressure being applied on the platform. The Delhi High Court “must be assisted to understand that Wikimedia Foundation is not like Twitter or Facebook where a centralised entity controls what’s published on it,” said Mishi Choudhary, Founder of the Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Centre.

“It’s a true community-run project. We cannot force the only place on the Internet that is trustworthy and doesn’t surveil its readers for advertisements to be subjected to arbitrary rules because of our inability to appreciate the editorial and technical architecture,” she added.

Published - November 07, 2024 01:09 pm IST