Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, on November 7 said that it has not received any official notice from the Centre on Wikipedia in the last two days.
"The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, has not received any official notice from the Indian government regarding editing practices or the accuracy of content on Wikipedia in the last two days," a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson said.
On November 5, news agencies Asian News International and Press Trust of India reported that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had sent a notice to Wikipedia raising concerns about editing control on its pages suggesting that a small group manages its pages.
"The Foundation stands behind its community of volunteers and core values, enabling millions worldwide to access well-sourced information at no cost. Wikipedia is an essential knowledge resource for the more than 850 million Indians who use it monthly; it has the fifth highest number of views from any country," a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson said.
In the notice, MIB had reportedly questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a "publisher" rather than an "intermediary," given the claim of select editorial control. This purported notice is relevant in the context of a legal case in the Delhi High Court, where ANI is seeking information about users who edited a page that referred to ANI as "the propaganda tool" of the Central government.
The Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson said that globally nearly 2,60,000 volunteers contribute content to the site. "Indian Wikipedia editors are integral and valued contributors, constantly ranked as one of the top number of contributing editors from a single country globally," they added.
The spokesperson further said that Wikipedia volunteers curate information from reliable news sources and other external publications and that they don’t add original content to the site.
"Wikipedia articles are required by its editorial policies to maintain a neutral point of view. Volunteers from many backgrounds and political persuasions edit Wikipedia. This model reinforces that Wikipedia articles present a broad view of knowledge on a topic, rather than any one perspective," it added.
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