Wikimedia suspended its page titled “Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation” from its non-profit online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. The page described the timeline of Wikimedia’s legal battle with, Asian News International (ANI) after the news agency sued Wikimedia for ‘defamation’ over an article describing the nature of the agency’s coverage.
On October 16 the Delhi High Court ordered to take down the page within 36 hours.
The suspended page with the same title now displays “The Wikimedia Foundation has suspended access to this page due to an order by the Delhi High Court, without prejudice to the Foundation’s rights. We are pursuing all available legal options.
We remain committed to access to knowledge as a human right. We are working to ensure that everyone can access and share free knowledge on Wikipedia. This regards active litigation, and this page will be updated when we are able to share more information.”
Wikipedia’s legal battle with ANI
In July, the ANI Media Private Limited-owned news agency filed a defamation lawsuit against Wikimedia before the Delhi High Court over its article about the news agency, which said it “has been criticized for having served as a propaganda tool for the incumbent Central government, distributing materials from a vast network of fake news websites, and misreporting events”.
The news agency had demanded the lawsuit and demanded Rs 2 crore as an interim relief from the monetary loss it incurred due to the description.
ANI has been widely criticised for its media coverage, with users calling it taking the side of the ruling party in India, and also pushing communal agenda through its coverage.
Wikipedia had added a description mentioning the allegations of the agency’s content, citing the reports by media watchdogs that described the news agency as serving as a propaganda tool of the incumbent government in India.
It also mentioned that under its new management, the news agency adopted an “aggressive model of journalism”, which focused on maximum revenue output and mentioned accusations made by ex-employees being ill-treated by ANI.
As Wikipedia is an open-source platform, where internet users can edit, the page witnessed an “edit war”, and has been reportedly edited heavily by largely new accounts that edit only the ANI page, to remove the allegations from the Wikipedia page about ANI, with other seasoned ‘Wikimedians’ reverting the edits to display the allegations, making ANI’s efforts futile, according to the publically available edit logs of the Wikipedia page.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Parameswaran Valeri | 
