The Delhi High Court has passed an interim order directing Wikimedia Foundation to takedown the alleged defamatory statements made on a Wikipedia page about news agency Asian News International, Bar and Bench reported.
This comes weeks after the Supreme Court issued a notice to ANI while hearing Wikimedia Foundation’s plea against a previous order by the high court to take down a specific page on the news agency.
The high court had in December 2024 reserved its decision on ANI’s interim application and said it would go through the news articles that form the basis of the alleged defamatory edits against ANI on its Wikipedia page. It had wondered whether it could go into such detail at the interim stage. The interim injunction plea forms part of ANI’s Rs 2 crore defamation suit against Wikimedia Foundation.
In July last year, the high court had issued summons to Wikipedia and ordered it to disclose information about three people who made the edits on ANI’s Wikipedia page. After ANI complained that Wikipedia had not complied, the single-judge bench issued a notice for contempt of court. Wikipedia then moved the division bench.
Before the division bench, both ANI and Wikipedia reached an agreement and the latter agreed to serve notice on the users thereby protecting their identity. Wikipedia then served notices on the three users accused of defamation by ANI.
In October, the Delhi High Court had described Wikipedia’s model as “dangerous”, complaining that “anyone can edit a page”. It also ordered the take down of a Wikipedia page titled “Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation” which contains details on the ongoing case. Wikipedia took the page down but also moved the Supreme Court.
Does Wikipedia have control over who writes and edits on its pages? How does it work? Why has the court made such strong remarks? Watch our explainer to understand the case.
And if you’re wondering about ANI’s pushback against being called ‘propaganda’, we’ve got the whole story. Click here to read about ANI’s business of news and how it signs ‘PR’ contracts with governments.
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