New Delhi: One of the top ten most-visited websites on the Internet, Wikipedia guides users, which can be anybody, to create pages and edit content over time—a feature that has once again landed it in legal trouble. The Delhi High Court this month issued a notice to the Wikimedia Foundation—the United States-incorporated, San Francisco-based nonprofit that runs Wikipedia—warning it for not adhering to its earlier directions.
“If you don’t like India, don’t work here,” the court remarked, issuing the notice in response to a contempt plea by the Asian News International (ANI).
The ongoing legal dispute started in July this year when ANI filed a defamation suit against the Wikimedia Foundation, claiming the Wikipedia page about ANI has defamatory content and, despite its attempts to edit and correct the page, that content would reappear.
On 20 August, the Wikimedia Foundation appeared before the court. In that hearing, ANI argued that the foundation did not challenge its claim that the three defendants named in its defamation suit were not Wikipedia administrators, that is, people with full page-editing rights granted through a community review process. The court then directed the Foundation to provide ANI with the subscriber details of the three defendants in two weeks. However, the foundation has failed to do so, drawing the court’s ire.
According to the ANI Wikipedia page, the news agency “has been criticised for acting as a propaganda tool for the current central government, spreading information from a network of fake news websites, and misreporting events.” Through its defamation suit, ANI has sought a court order to remove and prevent the hosting of such content on Wikipedia.
Additionally, ANI is seeking Rs 2 crore in damages.
How Wikipedia works: Protection levels, administrators
Although creating a Wikipedia page is user-friendly, the platform guides users to be meticulous. It emphasises that users summarise information from reliable sources in their own words without adding personal knowledge or opinions. Users should present all viewpoints fairly, avoiding “promotional or biased language”.
It asks users to add citations to ensure verifiability, using trustworthy sources with a reputation for accuracy. Wikipedia allows non-English, offline, and subscription-based sources if reliable. Also, users do not need to finish the page at once; they can save their progress as they go. Wikipedia also offers tools to easily add images, templates, and categories, allowing for a more dynamic and complete article over time.
Over the years, Wikipedia has implemented various restrictions on page edits to enhance reliability and prevent vandalism. One such measure is the application of different levels of “protection” to pages based on their susceptibility to vandalism and disruption.
Wikipedia uses different levels of page protection to manage editing and prevent issues. “Full protection” is the highest level and is employed to stop “edit wars between multiple users” or to safeguard high-risk pages from vandalism. Only administrators can change the content of these fully protected pages.
Administrators or “admins” are usually experienced editors with special technical abilities and “do not work as employees” for the Wikimedia Foundation. They can block or unblock users and IP addresses, protect and unprotect pages, delete or rename pages, and have access to various other tools.
They, however, are not allowed to use their tools for personal advantage in disputes and should not be confused with Wikimedia Foundation’s system administrators.
“Semi-protection”—a slightly lower level—prevents edits by anonymous users and new accounts, helping to guard against vandalism from those who are not registered or new to Wikipedia.
“Pending changes” is another protection level that ensures that users’ modifications are not immediately visible. Instead, these changes must be reviewed and approved by an experienced editor with appropriate rights before they appear on the page.
“Move protection” is applied to prevent disputes over the renaming of a page, stopping repeated attempts to change its title. “Extended confirmed” protection comes into play when semi-protection alone is insufficient. It restricts editing to only users registered for longer and with a history of making constructive contributions.
In content dispute cases such as the one initiated by ANI, the administrators can apply temporary or permanent protection to the page to prevent further edits. The news agency’s page is currently under “extended confirmed” protection.
How to create a Wikipedia page
Creating a Wikipedia page is simpler than it may seem. One can start by visiting wikipedia.org and selecting the Wikipedia version for a preferred language, such as the English version at en.wikipedia.org.
Once there, click on “Create an account” in the top-right corner, where you will provide a username, password, and email address. After signing up, check your inbox for a verification email and follow the link to confirm your account.
With that done, log in and head to “preferences”.
Under the “Editing” tab, select the option to see both editor tabs. With your account set up, click “Sandbox” at the top-right of the page, opening the space to draft a Wikipedia page and refine the content before publishing.
Open-editing model
The “open-editing” model of Wikipedia has landed the website into various controversies, including the Seigenthaler incident in 2005, which involved posting a false article on the Wikipedia page about John Seigenthaler, a prominent American journalist. The article wrongly claimed that Seigenthaler had been a suspect in the assassinations of former US President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
It also falsely stated that Seigenthaler had spent 13 years living in the Soviet Union, starting in 1971. Seigenthaler, a close associate of Robert Kennedy, later described the entry as an “internet character assassination”.
In January 2013, a Wikipedia page, “Bicholim conflict”, gained international attention. It contained a hoax article about an elaborate but fictional account of a supposed war in Goa, India. Despite being entirely fabricated, it had been recognised as a “good article”—a distinction given to fewer than one percent of English Wikipedia content—and remained on the platform for over five years. The article was nominated for “featured article”—Wikipedia’s highest recognition for exceptional research and quality.
For an article to be classified as “good” by Wikipedia, it must be “verifiable against reliable sources”. In contrast, a “featured” article has to cite “high-quality sources” and adhere to stricter inline citation standards. Additionally, featured articles typically need to be better illustrated with media when compared to “good” articles.
In March 2009, shortly after the death of French composer Maurice Jarre, Irish student Shane Fitzgerald inserted a fake quote into Jarre’s Wikipedia page.
It read: “One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die, there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear.”
Newspapers worldwide, including The Guardian and The Independent, quickly adopted the fabricated quote, publishing it in the obituaries of Maurice Jarre.
Indian cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s Wikipedia page was also edited with false information labelling him as a “Khalistani” following a missed catch in a match against Pakistan in 2022.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
ANI has a history of parading fake news that supports government narratives. Still remember, they falsely called the rapists of Kuki women in manipur as Muslims on twitter.
Wikipedia is extremely obnoxious when dealing with right wing ideologies and politics. It paints every conservative as a Hitler-in-the-making.
It must be forced to change it’s stance through such lawsuits – not just in India but across nations.
It’s unfortunate that Wikipedia has allowed the Left-liberal cabal to control the edits.