• The Wikimedia Foundation has not received any notice from the Indian government on its content, a spokesperson for the non-profit said.
  • a government official said in a message to journalists that a notice was sent to the foundation, though no statement was issued through the Press Information Bureau, and no copy of the notice was released.
  • The Information and Broadcasting Ministry did not have any immediate comment on the non-receipt of its notice.
  • The government’s alleged notice was described as calling out a “small group having editorial control”, an apparent reference to regular Wikipedia contributors being able to lock down a page to prevent vandalism by only allowing other regular contributors to make changes. The government also complained of “bias and inaccuracies”.
  • The unusual back-and-forth between the government and Wikipedia comes even as the Delhi High Court hears a suit by Asian News International.
  • The news agency is fighting a description in a Wikipedia article on it that characterises it as friendly to the government and a spreader of misinformation on its behalf. The foundation has agreed so far to provide the details it has of users who have added these descriptions to ANI’s page in a sealed cover.

The case and the conservative grievances with the supposed liberal slant of Wikipedia’s editors have laid bare a key tension between India’s growing regulation of online platforms and the online encyclopaedia: what to do with a non-profit that as a policy does not interfere in content decisions by unpaid users.