Indian news agency Asian News International (ANI) has filed a Rs 2 Crore defamation suit against online encyclopedia Wikipedia in Delhi High Court saying that Wikipedia has been allowing defamatory edits to ANI’s page on the platform. The Delhi High Court issued summons to Wikipedia in the case on Tuesday, July 9.
The Wikipedia entry for ANI says,”The news agency 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.” Following this, ANI filed the defamation suit saying that the description is defamatory and that the platform was not allowing edits on its page to change the description.
Appearing on behalf of ANI, Advocate Sidhant Kumar submitted, “They have closed my (ANI’s) page for editing by anyone and can only be edited through their representatives.” He argued that Wikipedia is allowing only selective edits on their page.
Sidhant Kumar submitted, “This malicious conduct of the Defendants ex-facie establishes their ulterior motives of defaming Plaintiff by publishing false and misleading content against Plaintiff.”
The plea argued that Wikipedia has tarnished the reputation of ANI among general public and the industry leading to harassment of the plaintiff from the public. It further added that damage continues to be inflicted on the ANI page with false and defamatory content without the ability to modify or edit the same.
.Hearing the plea, Justice Navin Chawla issued notice on ANI’s interim relief plea as well and listed the matter for further hearing on August 20.
