In Response to Claims of Bias and Inaccuracy, the Centre Has Placed Wikipedia on Notice

Nitin Konde, Varun Bhardwaj

Nov 7, 2024 — 2 min read

Centre Notifies Wikipedia to Address Bias and Accuracy Concerns

In the midst of its ongoing legal battle with a national news agency, the Indian government has placed the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia under notice. The government has complained to Wikipedia on multiple occasions about the website's bias and falsehoods.

The government has also reportedly indicated that a small group controls the website's editorial direction. According to media reports, the government has questioned why Wikipedia shouldn't be regarded as a publisher rather than a middleman.

Asian News International (ANI), a news agency, is suing Wikipedia for allegedly publishing "defamatory" articles against it. According to ANI, a passage in the news organisation's Wikipedia page incorrectly charges it of being "a propaganda tool for the incumbent government" and "propagating material from fake news websites." ANI had called for the removal of the page.

The Delhi High Court strongly objected to Wikipedia's unwillingness to provide the identities of people who made revisions to the ANI entry page and sent it a contempt notice on September 5.

Court Ordered Wikipedia to Leave India

The court was enraged by the news agency's failure to comply with its order in connection with a defamation complaint. The court had instructed Wikipedia to cease operations in India if it did not wish to do so, and that it would request that the central government block the platform in the country.

The court threatened to shut down Wikipedia if it didn't comply with its instructions in August, ordering the website to reveal the identity of people responsible for the allegedly defamatory alterations to the ANI page.

Very Few Individuals Making Content Decisions

Wikipedia has been accused of launching a war on India in a dossier released by the news website Opindia. According to the document, a select few individuals worldwide manage all of the content on Wikipedia. Only a small number of people have the final say over what content is uploaded and what isn't, according to the report.

Google and Wikimedia have a formal business partnership, and Google has donated millions of dollars to the Wikimedia Foundation. The defamatory material on Wikipedia effectively turns into a fact sheet for the relevant public figure and/or organisation when Google uses Wikipedia to create knowledge panels. According to the dossier, such controversial pages involving public figures and groups are typically locked, meaning that only a small group of editors and administrators can make changes.

Elon Musk Urging People to Not to Donate to Wikipedia

Elon Musk, the creator of SpaceX, said last month that "far-left activists" were in charge of Wikipedia and advised users to cease making donations.

According to rumours earlier this year, the Centre was reportedly planning to notify Google for the "biased" way in which its AI platform Gemini responded to a query concerning Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Prior to the Centre sending out a notification, Google claimed to have fixed the problem and to be "constantly working on improving" the system.