The Delhi High Court has ordered the removal of allegedly defamatory content related to ANI Media Private Limited from its Wikipedia page. The order was passed on Wednesday by Justice Subramonium Prasad, directing the Wikimedia Foundation—which operates Wikipedia—to take down statements published against ANI on its page titled “Asian News International.”
The court’s ruling came as part of ANI’s Rs. 2 crore defamation lawsuit against Wikimedia Foundation, seeking the removal of defamatory content and restrictions on further publication of such material.
ANI had filed an interim injunction plea, which sought:
- Removal of allegedly defamatory content from Wikipedia’s ANI page.
- A restriction on Wikipedia’s users and administrators from publishing anything defamatory against ANI.
- Lifting the protection status imposed on the ANI page.
“Prayer 2 and 3 [granted],” Justice Prasad said while announcing the order. This meant the court accepted ANI’s requests for content removal and lifting page protection.
The Wikipedia page in question had stated that ANI “has been criticized for serving as a propaganda tool for the incumbent central government, distributing materials from a vast network of fake news websites, and misreporting events.” ANI argued that these claims were false, defamatory, and published with malicious intent to damage its reputation.
This case has seen multiple court interventions:
- In August last year, the Delhi High Court directed Wikipedia to share subscriber details of three individuals who allegedly edited ANI’s page. Wikipedia was required to provide this information within two weeks.
- Wikipedia challenged this order before a division bench, which later took exception to another Wikipedia page titled “Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation.”
- This Wikipedia page mentioned that “the judge in the case has threatened to order the government of India to shut down Wikipedia in the country.” The court found these remarks problematic.
- The division bench then ordered the removal of this page, calling the statements against the judge prima facie contemptuous.
- Eventually, both parties resolved the matter through a consent order, leading to the division bench disposing of Wikipedia’s appeal.
- In November, Justice Prasad issued summons to three individuals accused of editing the ANI Wikipedia page.
- Recently, the Supreme Court issued a notice on Wikipedia’s appeal against the division bench’s order directing the removal of its page related to the defamation dispute.
Title: Wikimedia Foundation v. ANI & Ors.
