Joint Statement on Defamation Proceedings against Wikipedia: Protect Open Knowledge, Freedom of Speech and Privacy in India

We, the undersigned individuals and organizations, strongly caution against blocking access to Wikipedia. We ask the government of India to ensure access for Wikipedia in the country.

Wikipedia functions as the most accessed online encyclopedia globally, with free articles available in more than 300 languages. Wikipedia is managed by a non-profit organization, Wikimedia Foundation. No one owns Wikipedia. Wikipedia is available for free, without advertising, without selling personal data, and while maintaining strong user privacy protections.

Based on the principles of the open-source community, Wikipedia is managed through a community of volunteers who strive to ensure that the online compendium remains reliable, open, and neutral. It places emphasis on information that is verifiable and accurate, based on citations from reliable sources. But right now, access to Wikipedia in India is threatened.

The defamation lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation poses a significant threat to freedom of expression and open access to knowledge in India. Wikipedia enjoys safe harbor protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, but stripping it of this protection could lead to self-censorship and over-regulation, causing a “chilling effect” on free speech in the country. The lawsuit, which seeks to identify and punish volunteers who contributed to an article citing verifiable sources, has the potential to infringe on the right to privacy and thwart free speech. Wikimedia Foundation’s effort to follow due process in court while also safeguarding the privacy of Wikipedia volunteers has been met with Judge’s remark during hearing about ceasing operations and blocking Wikipedia in the country.

Blocking access to Wikipedia in India would hurt the people of India who rely on Wikipedia, in English as well as dozens of Indic languages, as a source of information. Every month, there are more than 1 billion views of Wikipedia from India  and the country accounts as one of the largest volunteer contributors to Wikipedia. Users of Wikipedia in India use the free information for preserving indigenous language, supplement information for schooling, addressing gender gap in online knowledge, as well as getting reliable medical information. 

We also support the decision to protect the privacy of Wikipedia editors. Wikipedia editors place themselves at risk of harassment and retaliation when they contribute to articles with vital public interest information. The Wikimedia Foundation’s policy of protecting the privacy of readers and editors helps to mitigate this risk, because without privacy protections, people would be less likely to seek or provide accurate, but potentially risky, information. This chilling effect would decrease the value of Wikipedia as a resource and would further empower those who would suppress information with which they disagree.

We stand firmly against any efforts to undermine the Wikipedia community, recognizing that such actions pose grave threats to the freedom of speech and expression, open knowledge on the Internet and privacy.

We humbly ask for your solidarity  and endorsement for joint statement to defend access for Wikipedia and user’s privacy in India by 10 Sept.  If Wikipedia is blocked in India, it will signal very bad precedent on freedom of speech and information as well as undermine privacy protections of users data. 

During the hearing on Sep 05, the Delhi high court judge give verbal comment that he will issue notice on a contempt plea filed by Asian News International (ANI) for blocking access of Wikipedia and disclosing editors data over ongoing defamation proceedings against Wikimedia Foundation. On June 2024, ANI had sued Wikimedia Foundation demanding ₹2 crore for what it said were defamatory allegations in the introduction section of its page on Wikipedia— such as its alleged pro-government bias and tendency to cite misinformation. Nevertheless, the ANI page section adhered to Wikipedia’s content moderation policy to ensure neutrality and include verifiable citations.