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Wikipedia is facing increasing regulatory pressure in India, with local authorities questioning whether the platform should continue to enjoy legal protection as a neutral intermediary rather than being classified as a publisher.
India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a notice to Wikipedia on Tuesday questioning the encyclopedia’s intermediary status provided to technology platforms in India. The ministry cited concerns about focused editorial control and persistent complaints about bias and inaccuracy on the platform.
The notice comes in the wake of a controversial case in the Delhi High Court, where judges described Wikipedia’s open editing feature as “dangerous” and threatened to suspend its operations in India. The court is hearing a defamation case brought by news agency Asian News International, which seeks to identify Wikipedia contributors who allegedly described the news agency as a “propaganda tool” for the Indian government.
Justice Navin Chawla rejected Wikipedia’s plea for additional time to respond due to its lack of physical presence in India, warning of initiating contempt proceedings against the platform if it fails to comply with orders to disclose user information. “If you don’t want to abide by Indian regulations, don’t work in India,” the judge said.
Wikipedia has maintained that its volunteer editors must adhere to its established policies regarding verifiable content and legal guidelines, although this defense has faced increasing scrutiny from Indian authorities concerned with the platform’s content moderation practices.
Wikimedia, the non-profit organization that runs Wikipedia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nikhil Pahwa, editor of MediaNama and a prominent voice on technology policy, questioned the legal basis of the government’s move, arguing that India’s IT law defines platform status on the basis of functionality and not the number of editors.
“You can be a platform with one user/editor or a billion.” Written on X.
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