Wikipedia officials summoned over nuisance on cricketer’s page

The Indian Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has summoned officials from Wikipedia for vandalism on the page of cricketer Arshdeep Singh, without making the summons public. Arshdeep Singh missed a catch during the India-Pakistan cricket match and was subjected to severe criticism and trolling.

The first edit was made by a user with an IP address assigned by PTCL, a Pakistani state-owned telecom company. 27 edits followed in rapid succession, with users undoing or restoring that vandalism.

The Wikipedia pages are written and edited by volunteers, and even administrators are long-term volunteers who have built up some credibility with the community. The cricketer’s Wikipedia page has been the subject of what is termed as “persistent vandalism,” with users either changing his team to Pakistan, or claiming that he was part of a “Khalistani” team.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the US-based non-profit organisation that operates Wikipedia, said, “Unlike for profit technology companies, Wikipedia is governed by principles of reliability, neutrality and transparency– the platform model, which does not include ads or tracking of users, is intended to de-incentivize the spread of viral content and misinformation.”

The foundation further confirmed that the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology got in touch with them regarding the page of Singh. It added that Arshdeep Kaur’s page has been semi-protected to prevent its further vandalism.