The Delhi High Court has issued summons to users accused of making defamatory edits on the Wikipedia page of Asian News International (ANI), a major news agency. This order comes after a Division Bench decision that permitted Wikipedia to serve the summons without publicly disclosing the users’ identities.
Justice Subramonium Prasad issued the summons following a consent order agreed upon between Wikipedia and ANI, which resolved an appeal against a previous single-judge directive that had required Wikipedia to reveal the identities of these users. In a move to protect user privacy while addressing defamation concerns, Wikipedia agreed to share the necessary user information with the court confidentially and to serve the defamation suit summons directly to the involved users.
The proceedings updated by ANI’s counsel, Advocate Sidhant Kumar, led to Justice Prasad instructing the High Court Registry to implement the consent order by issuing the summons to defendants 2-4 through all available methods, including email addresses provided by Wikipedia in a sealed cover. The court has mandated that the summons be served within four days, setting the next hearing for December 16.
This case traces back to earlier complaints by ANI alleging that Wikipedia allowed defamatory content to be published on its page. Following ANI’s lawsuit, the court initially summoned Wikipedia in July to disclose information about three users believed to be responsible for the derogatory edits. Wikipedia’s subsequent appeal and the agreement with ANI have now facilitated a resolution that both addresses defamation issues and upholds the privacy of its users.
