Why the Delhi High Court called Wikipedia’s editing function “dangerous” | Latest news India

The Delhi High Court, hearing a defamation suit filed against Wikipedia by news agency ANI on Friday, said the functioning of the platform, particularly its open access edition, was “dangerous”. Bar and bench.

While hearing the case with the rest of the division members, Justice Subramonium Prasad said: “Can anyone edit a page on Wikipedia?” “What kind of page is this if it’s open to anyone (for editing)?”

Although the judge called the operation of the platform “dangerous”, senior lawyer Jayant Mehta, representing the online encyclopedia, said users must comply with the law when creating the page or updating information.

Lawyer Mehta argued that Wikipedia was not like Facebook or other social media pages where a person maintains a page and can say anything.

“It is not a social network where you have a page and anyone can do anything. It is an encyclopedia where any user can add information if they deserve it. The page is open to editing by anyone and that is how it gains credibility. Every piece of information is “Cross-reference to the source is required,” Mehta said.

ANI has sued Wikipedia for allowing defamatory edits on its page that previously referred to ANI as a “propaganda tool” for the current government. They demanded that the page of their lawsuit be removed.

Lawyer Sidhant Kumar, representing ANI, argued that although Wikipedia presents its information as fact, it is an “aggregator of defamation”.

Earlier, the high court had asked Wikimedia to reveal information about the three people who edited ANI’s Wikipedia page, but Wikimedia appealed the summons and the matter now falls to a division bench, Bar and Bench reported.

The court adjourned the matter till October 28.