Categorically, Wikipedia has declined the media reports that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had sent a notice to Wikipedia raising concerns about editing control on its pages suggesting that a small group manages its pages. It said that the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, has not received any official notice from the Indian government regarding editing practices or the accuracy of content on Wikipedia in the last two days.
They reassured that the Foundation stands behind its community of volunteers and core values.
“Wikipedia is an essential knowledge resource for the more than 850 million Indians who use it monthly; it has the fifth highest number of views from any country," a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson said.
According to media claims, the MIB notice had reportedly questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a "publisher" rather than an "intermediary," given the claim of select editorial control. This purported notice is relevant in the context of a legal case in the Delhi High Court, where ANI is seeking information about users who edited a page that referred to ANI as "the propaganda tool" of the Central government.
"Wikipedia articles are required by its editorial policies to maintain a neutral point of view. Volunteers from many backgrounds and political persuasions edit Wikipedia. This model reinforces that Wikipedia articles present a broad view of knowledge on a topic, rather than any one perspective," he added.
This incident underscores the tension between government regulations and open-source information platforms, especially in regions with stringent content control laws. The spokesperson emphasised that Wikipedia volunteers curate information from reliable news sources and other external publications and that they don’t add original content to the site.
See What’s Next in Tech With the Fast Forward Newsletter
Tweets From @varindiamag
Nothing to see here - yet
When they Tweet, their Tweets will show up here.
