Wikipedia’s credibility at stake as its editors target more Indian media outlets

New Delhi: After the Delhi High Court issued a stern warning along with a contempt of court notice, hinting at the possibility of a blockade in India, Wikipedia editors doubled down their attack on the Indian media.

Following the Delhi High Court warning in ANI matter, the Wikipedia editors replicated similar edits across a few more large Indian media outlets including Aaj Tak, India TV, Times Now and NDTV.

ANI (Asian News International) dragged Wikipedia to court for edits on its Wikipedia page suggesting an intent to malign Indian media.

An official document from the Canadian government had recently picked up a few reports from ANI and India Today to accuse the Indian media of ‘foreign interference’.

Media observers see the timing and selection of media outlets to discredit them more than any coincidence and suspect anti-India ranters behind these awful actions.

“In case Wikipedia or its select editors think this will harm these media outlets in any manner, then they must be daydreaming. These are commercial organisations and do not beat the drum of trust. Instead, Wikipedia attracts funds for being reliable and trustworthy. The entire existence of Wikipedia would fall in danger if it continued to surrender in the hands of propagandists. Wikipedia has been my source of primary information and billions of people rely on Wikipedia’s reliability. An open source like Wikipedia must protect its credibility, which has been built over approximately three decades,” said a media observer.

It must be noted that internet giants such as Google rely on Wikipedia pages to tag any organisation as a ‘trusted source’.

A query sent to Google for its remarks on whether it will continue relying on Wikipedia pages affecting its search algorithms remained unanswered by the filing of this report.

An independent law practitioner in the Supreme Court on assurance of anonymity told NewsDrum that it is a clear case of targeting and mudslinging.

“More than India, the media outlets across the US and the rest of the world are openly aligned with either of the political parties. Fox News, CNN, WSJ, New York Times and the list is endless. Indian media started taking sides openly after they saw what was happening in developed markets like the USA. Wikipedia never branded them as aligned because this could be an individual opinion depending on which side you see this from. Such things will not leave any doubt in readers’ minds about the media outlets but Wikipedia and their editors. This is not the real Wikipedia I always trusted,” the senior advocate said.

Sources in a couple of affected media outlets informed NewsDrum that they would seek legal remedies just like ANI.

The pages in question have ‘defamatory’ content, suggesting that top Indian media outlets had been used as a propaganda tool.

It is significant to mention that the Delhi High Court's frustration with Wikipedia's non-compliance was palpable.

Last month, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said, "If you don't like India, please don't work in India. We will ask the government to block Wikipedia!"

Wikipedia, known for its open-editing model, has often found itself in legal battles worldwide over content moderation and the right to information.