Centre issues notice to Wikipedia over complaints of bias and inaccuracies

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, November 5, 2024: The government wrote an official notice to Wikipedia on Tuesday, raising concerns about bias and inaccuracies on the site and noting that editorial control is held by a small group.

Centre in its notice also asked why Wikipedia shouldn’t be treated as a publisher instead of an intermediary.

Wikipedia presents itself as a free online encyclopedia, allowing volunteers to create and edit pages on a wide range of topics, including personalities, issues, and various subjects.

However, the widely used platform is currently entangled in legal battles in India, facing allegations of providing inaccurate and defamatory content.

This notice follows a ruling by the Delhi high court in September, which criticised Wikipedia’s open editing feature as ’dangerous.’ The court’s remarks came during a defamation case filed by a news agency against the platform, where judges expressed astonishment that ’anybody’ could edit a Wikipedia page. The court highlighted the potential risks associated with unrestricted editing, particularly in regard to sensitive information about individuals or entities.

In response to the court’s concerns, Wikipedia’s legal representatives assured the judges that users must adhere to legal guidelines when creating or updating content. The platform highlighted that the platform has established policies to govern user contributions and ensure compliance with the law.

Launched in the early 2000s, Wikipedia was designed to facilitate free access to knowledge and information. Over the past two decades, the platform has experienced significant growth. Today, Wikipedia boasts over 56 million articles across more than 300 languages, with approximately 89 percent of its content available in languages other than English.