The Supreme Court on Friday questioned a Delhi High Court order directing Wikipedia to take down a page on the defamation suit filed by news agency Asian News International against the online encyclopedia, Live Law reported.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by Wikipedia. The page mentioned details about the defamation case filed by ANI in July 2024 against the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia. It had also listed details about the observations made by the Delhi High Court during the hearings on the defamation cases.
The apex court took issue with the high court’s directives and said that the lower court could have ordered the takedown only if there had been contempt of court. The Supreme Court had earlier also issued a notice to ANI against the high court order.
The court also said that the high court was being “touchy” for reacting to criticism in the media, Bar and Bench reported.
In July 2024, ANI had sued the popular online encyclopedia for defamation for “allowing misleading, negative and defamatory” edits to ANI’s Wikipedia page. The Wikipedia page had referred to ANI as the central government’s “propaganda tool”.
Following the defamation case, Wikipedia created a page on the suit itself drawing the ire of the Delhi High Court.
The Delhi High Court had also described Wikipedia’s model as “dangerous”, complaining that “anyone can edit a page”.
How does Wikipedia work? Who has control over who writes and edits on its pages? How does it work? Why did the Delhi High Court make 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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