Wikimedia Foundation Responds To ANI Defamation Claims Over Wikipedia Content

The Wikimedia Foundation has addressed the lawsuit filed this week by Asian News International (ANI), a newswire agency providing video and text feeds to various news organisations in India.

ANI had sued Wikipedia's parent company, seeking ₹2 crore in damages for what it claimed were defamatory statements in the introduction section of its Wikipedia page, including allegations of pro-government bias and a tendency to cite misinformation.

The foundation said in a statement that it does not add, edit or determine content published on Wikipedia, rather it is “determined by its global community of volunteer editors (also known as the ‘Wikimedia Community’) who compile and share information on notable subjects.”

The petitioner argued that the editing history of the page indicates that in April, several edits were made to reflect the true and factual position. However, these edits were "deliberately reversed" in May with the intent to damage the petitioner's reputation.

Wikipedia, launched in 2001, does not create its own content for its online encyclopedia. Instead, it functions as a collaborative, open-source, nonprofit platform where users contribute to the website's content.

In a similar case in October 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed a series of petitions filed by the Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India, which claimed that a Wikipedia article about them was defamatory.