Posted by intunderflow 1 day ago
At the time of the suit's filing, the Wikipedia article about ANI said the news agency had "been accused of having served as a propaganda tool for the incumbent central government, distributing materials from a vast network of fake news websites, and misreporting events on multiple occasions". The filing accused Wikipedia of publishing "false and defamatory content with the malicious intent of tarnishing the news agency's reputation, and aimed to discredit its goodwill".
The filing argued that Wikipedia "is a platform used as public utility and as such cannot behave as a private sector". It also complained that Wikipedia had "closed" the article about ANI for editing except by Wikipedia's "own editors", citing this as evidence of defamation with malicious intent and evidence that WMF was using its "officials" to "actively participate" in controlling content. ANI asked for ₹2 crore (approximately US$240,000) in damages and an injunction against Wikipedia "making, publishing, or circulating allegedly false, misleading, and defamatory content against ANI".
The case was filed in July 2024 before Justice Navin Chawla in the Delhi High Court as ANI Media Pvt. Ltd. v Wikimedia Foundation Inc & Ors. ANI argued that Wikipedia is a significant social media "intermediary" within the definition of Information Technology Act, 2000, and must therefore comply with the requirements of the Act, including taking down any content that the government or its agencies deem violative, or be personally liable for content published under its platform. Chawla issued a summons to WMF, called the lawsuit "a pure case of defamation" and set a hearing date of 20 August. On 20 August 2024, Chawla ordered WMF to disclose identifying details of three editors (also defendants in the lawsuit) who had worked on the Wikipedia article about ANI to allow ANI to pursue legal action against them as individuals. Chawla ordered WMF to provide the information within two weeks.
On 5 September, ANI asked the court to find WMF in contempt when the identifying details were not released within the time frame. Chawla issued a contempt of court order and threatened to order the government of India to block Wikipedia in the country, saying "We will not take it any more. If you don't like India, please don't work in India...We will close your business transactions here." In response, Wikimedia emphasized that the information in the article was supported by multiple reliable secondary sources. Chawla ordered that an "authorised representative" of WMF appear in person at the next hearing, which was scheduled for 25 October 2024.
On 14 October, Delhi High Court justices Manmohan and Tushar Rao Gedela objected to the creation of an English Wikipedia article about the defamation case, saying the article "disclos[ed] something about a sub-judice matter" and "will have to be taken down", and scheduled review for 16 October. On 16 October, the court stated that "Accordingly, in the interim, this Court directs that the pages on Wikipedia pertaining to the single judge as well as discussion of the observations of division bench be taken down or deleted within 36 hours".
They've taken the article down to hopefully win in the long run.
* The article points out that reliable sources say the media org runs a network of fake news sites pushing BJP propaganda.
* The media org sues Wikipedia.
* The judge threatens to block Wikipedia in India, and demands the doxxing of the editors who made these observations about what sources say.
* Somebody starts a Wikipedia page about this civil case.
* That page now says "The Wikimedia Foundation has suspended access to this page due to an order by the Delhi High Court", but the one the case is about is still up.
Was there no such order about the Asian News International page? Or there was, but the WMF is ignoring that one while complying with this one?
I don't really get it, although "refrain from publishing information about an ongoing trial in case you prejudice the outcome" would be a reasonable request to comply with for ethical reasons. But they make it sound like they were forced to block this page and didn't want to. But not the page this page is about. Huh?
Edit: I think I see now, thanks to the above link about "On-wiki discussion". Something about the vagaries of law means blocking the meta-level article, but not the original one, is necessary if they want to appeal, years down the line when they get a chance. So it's strategic.
"ANI has been accused of acting as a propaganda tool for the current central government, distributing content from a vast network of fake news websites, and misreporting events on several occasions."[1]
Hindi Wikipedia also addresses the lawsuit between ANI and Wikipedia in the same article as this alleged "defamatory information" instead of having a translated version of the English Wikipedia ANI v Wikimedia case.[2][3]
Bengali Wikipedia (language spoken by 9% of Indians) is a stub article that still manages to make similar remarks to Hindi Wikipedia.[4]
Telugu Wikipedia (language spoken by 8% of Indians) has favorable coverage of ANI but still addresses the lawsuit between ANI and Wikipedia.[5]
Malayalam Wikipedia (language spoken by 3% of Indians) just has a stub article that says nothing much.[6]
edit: Answer appears to be "On 14 October, Delhi High Court justices Manmohan and Tushar Rao Gedela objected to the creation of an English Wikipedia article about the defamation case, saying the article "disclos[ed] something about a sub-judice matter" and "will have to be taken down", and scheduled review for 16 October. On 16 October, the court stated that "Accordingly, in the interim, this Court directs that the pages on Wikipedia pertaining to the single judge as well as discussion of the observations of division bench be taken down or deleted within 36 hours".".[7][8]
[1] https://hi-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E0%A4%8F%E0%...
[2] https://hi-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E0%A4%8F%E0%...
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_News_International_vs._W...
[4] https://bn-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E0%A6%8F%E0%...
[5] https://te-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E0%B0%8F%E0%...
[6] https://ml-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/%E0%B4%8F%E0%...
[7] Deleted article: https://archive.md/XIxZv#selection-2289.0-2351.1
[8] Deleted article: https://archive.md/CcA6Q